A few years ago, when travelling for fun was still a thing, I went to Amsterdam and ate one of the best apple cakes (also known as appeltaart) in my entire life. It was so good we went back again on our last day. The cake was perfectly moist, its crumb was beautifully crisp and its apples were gently cooked and lightly spicy! It was just delightful and it made me realise how I should spice my apples more often.

So today we are topping our Moroccan pancakes with brown butter spiced apples because I always have stacks of baghrir in the freezer ready to be used and we always a bag of apples sitting in the fridge!

The combination of the baghrir and apples is deliciously warming and perfect for the upcoming festive season, for breakfast or even dessert. You can make the baghrir ahead of time, keep them in the fridge/freezer and you can cook the apples 20 minutes before meal time, the apples are that quick and easy to prepare! I choose to top my baghrir with pistachios for crunchiness and sour cream for creaminess but obviously this is optional and the substitutions for toppings are endless when it comes to pancakes.

BAGHRIR PANCAKES WITH BROWN BUTTER SPICED APPLES

BAGHRIR PANCAKES

Makes 8 pancakes, serves 4

INGREDIENTS

125g of fine semolina
20g plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ heaped teaspoon active dry yeast
¼ teaspoon salt
250ml warm water
1 teaspoon baking powder

METHOD

• In a blender insert the semolina, flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add the warm water and blend until there are no lumps and the batter is smooth. If you don’t have a blender place all the ingredients in a large bowl and use an electric whisk instead of a blender.

• Add the baking powder and blend again for a few seconds. Leave the batter for 30 minutes to allow the yeast to proof and blend again for a few seconds.

• Grease a non-stick pan and place it over medium high heat. Wait for the pan to be very hot to start baking the pancakes, otherwise you won’t get many holes on your pancakes.

• Place a small amount of batter (as you would for any pancake) and leave the pancake until it dries out. As soon as you place the batter on the pan, the batter should start bubbling and drying out. Once the baghrir is no longer wet (it takes about a minute), it will mean that it is cooked. The baghrir are cooked only on one side. Never flip them while baking them as you will loose the holes. Repeat until you've used all the batter.

• Don’t pile up your Moroccan pancakes while they are still hot, because they will stick to each other. If you want to pile them when they are hot, separate them with a tissue.

Notes

• Warm water in this recipe means water that is warmer than room temperature but not hot. If no bubbles start popping when baking the pancakes, it is most likely that the batter is too thick and/or that the batter hasn’t proved long enough. In that case, add a couple of tablespoons of warm water and leave the batter to proof for an extra 15 minutes.

BROWN BUTTER SPICED APPLES

serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 cooking apples, cored and diced
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
A few gratings of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
80g butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar
100ml clear honey
Crushed pistachios and sour cream to serve, if desired

METHOD

• Make the brown butter; melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Keep an eye on the butter and stir occasionally, the butter will start to foam and turn into a golden brown, this process should take about 3 to 5 minutes.

• Immediately add in the honey and sugar and stir until the sugar has melted completely. Then, add in the apples and stir occasionally until the apples have softened and the syrup has thickened, this should take about 8 to 10 minutes.

• Serve warm on top of with the pancakes with crushed pistachios and sour cream if desired.

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