Come Brunch With Me

Ambrosia apples brunch recipiesWhen we reached out to our readers with suggestions for a three course menu, we received a reply from Anna, who created a menu for a delicious Sunday Brunch, which she shared with her husband, Andrew.

A busy jazz singer, Anna loves to cook, and also loves Ambrosia apples. “I like to create a lot of ethnic cooking,” she says. “I lived in Asia and picked up some flavour combos there. I also love making English traditional roasts and all the trimmings as I lived in England for many years. I love making sauces for pasta-based recipes, and thoroughly enjoyed my travels to France and Italy many times to eat and enjoy great flavours.  I grow, harvest, and can different varieties of tomatoes to make sauces as well as use my walnut tree and basil abundance to make a walnut/basil pesto each year, which I freeze. I am Polish so making perogies, cabbage rolls, borscht and sorrel soups are my go-to quick fire dinners.

“I eat Ambrosia apples but do not cook with them often, unless I make a quick applesauce as a side for something,” she explains. “I wanted something brunchy with salt and sweet, something decadent, so I thought why not pancakes? I put apple syrup inside the batter to make them more moist, but you can drizzle the cider syrup on top of the pancakes as well if you choose.”

“I love making up recipes,” she says. “Sometimes they work, and it’s great! A lot of times they are just ok, but I have a very positive husband who will eat it anyway, because the ingredients are top quality.”

She was kind enough to share her recipe below for Ambrosia Apple and Bacon Pancakes, which she served with Rebel Apple Vodka. 

Ambrosia Apple and Bacon Pancakes Recipe

Ambrosia apples recipiesApple cider syrup: 

  • ½ cup apple cider
  • 3 heaping Tbsp. light brown organic sugar 
  • 1.5 tsp lemon juice 
  • 1.5 tsp cornstarch

Batter: 

  • ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour 
  • ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp regular flour 
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda 
  • 1 large egg 
  • 1 large egg white 
  • ½ cup buttermilk or kefir
  • 1 Ambrosia apple, finely chopped 
  • 4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

Olive oil for cooking
Sliced apples, butter, lemon juice, and mint for garnish

Put the cider, brown sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch in a small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat and whisk until thick, then set aside.

In  another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the egg, egg white and the buttermilk or kefir. Add the Ambrosia apples and bacon and put in half of the cider syrup you made to add some moisture to your batter.

Heat a large frying pan or skillet, add the oil, and ladle your batter onto the hot pan (about 3” diameter), cook until the edges are dry, and bubbles begin to form then flip over and fry the other side. Repeat until the batter is finished. 

Reheat the syrup, and pour over the pancakes. To garnish, cook the Ambrosia apples in butter, then finish with a mint leaf and a little lemon juice for a nice zesty zip.

Anna has promised to share a three course menu in the future, including a recipe for her Polish grandmother’s apple cake called Charlotka. We will hold her to that, and look forward to sharing it.

 

Ambrosia Apples