Best Apple Butter Pancakes with Buttermilk

Apple Butter Pancakes are a one-bowl wonder!  Easy to make, these delicious pancakes feature a rich apple flavor with just a hint of cinnamon.  Fluffy and moist, these pancakes are made for stacking and snacking! 

“Apple Butter pancakes are one of my favorites.  I don’t even use syrup, just a smear of apple butter is good enough for me!”   Joyce Pinson, Friends Drift Inn

Apple Butter Pancakes Recipe At-A-Glance

Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time 18 – 20 minutes Total Time 25 minutes

(Cook Time could be significantly reduced if using a griddle and making several pancakes at a time)

Yield 6 pancakes

Ingredients – All-Purpose Flour – Sugar – Baking Powder –  Baking Soda –  Salt –  Buttermilk  –  Egg – Friends Drift Inn Apple Butter

Equipment – Mixing bowl –  Measuring Spoons and Cups –  Whisk –  Mixing spoon –  Skillet – Pancake Turner

What Makes this Apple Butter Pancake Recipe the Best?

Apple Butter Pancakes are anything but flat.  They are fluffy and moist! 

Using buttermilk, baking powder and soda gives these pancakes a real lift.

With Friends Drift Inn Apple Butter stirred into the batter, the flavor has the richness of apples and a hint of ginger and cinnamon.  They are so satisfying; you really do not need syrup. 

Put a dollop of apple butter on top of pancake stack – give a light sprinkle of confectionary sugar and savor every mouthful!

Quick Tips for Making Pancakes

• Fanatical about fluffy pancakes?  You could separate the egg and beat the white to add lots of air.  Fold in the batter carefully, so as not to deflate. 
• If you give batter a minute or two to “work,” you will see the leavening lighten up the batter.  It is worth that extra couple of minutes to make a fluffy pancake.
• Cast iron skillets generally offer a more even heat for cooking.  Heat skillet before cooking, medium high heat is good.  The skillet is hot enough when a few beads of water will dance and sizzle on the surface. 
• Pancakes are one of those things you can judge by opening your eyes.  When frying, watch for the edges to brown and release from the pan.  The surface bubbles will begin to pop.  Flip it!  Flip it Good! 
• Cook other side and plate.
• For a crowd, place pancakes on a lined baking tray.  Cover with foil and hold in oven at about 200 degrees.

Can’t get enough of pancakes?  Check out our other Friends Drift Inn including Blueberry Pancakes and Apple Streusel Pancakes.  

How Do You Make Apple Butter Pancakes From Scratch and Why Bother?

Pancakes are simple to make.  It is one of the first things I learned to cook. 

Apple Butter Pancakes are a one bowl wonder. 

• Whisk in the dry ingredients, make a well and add the wet ingredients and your batter is done! 
• It takes longer to get the skillet hot than it does to mix up apple butter pancakes.
• Pour batter in greased skillet, let bottom side cook, flip and cook other side.  You are good to go. 

Do you really have room in the pantry for one more box of mix?  I don’t!  Pancake mix is just another way to suck up space on my over-crowded shelves!

Apple butter pancakes use standard pantry items already on hand.  It only takes a minute or two to mix, and you are in control of the leavening rise (what makes these pancakes fluffy).  In a box mix, you have no clue how much leavening is provided.

Did I mention I hate flat pancakes?  Giggles

Why Do Pancake Recipes Include Buttermilk?

If you are a baker, buttermilk is like thick liquid gold.  I am not one to drink it; but I cook with buttermilk daily. 

According to  Fine Cooking’s Carolyn Weil:

Although you probably don’t think of it in this way, buttermilk contributes to the leavening of many baked goods. In conjunction with baking soda, buttermilk produces carbon dioxide gas, which is why a stack of pancakes made with buttermilk can tower over those made with milk.

In 1843, Alfred Bird was credited with inventing baking powder in England.  The powder made it stateside by the 1860’s.

Before that, buttermilk with baking soda was depended upon to create the rise in biscuits, pancakes,  and quick breads.  

Can I Make Pancake Batter Ahead of Time?

Of course!  Make the batter the night before, cover with plastic, and refrigerate until the morning.  You are ahead of the game.

While you are at it, set the coffee maker timer too!  

Why Use Apple Butter in Pancakes?

Why not?  Apple Butter is something I am passionate about.  The original Friends Drift Inn, my Grandparents’ diner, apiary, and commercial orchard was where I learned to cook off apple butter. 

Ever wondered  What is Apple Butter? I wrote all about it and our family history, just in case you were curious. 

Friends Drift Inn Apple Butter features a blend of several apple varieties to create a product that is lush in texture and rich in flavor; serving as an homage to traditional Appalachian food culture. 

Made without added preservatives or food coloring, we think you will enjoy our unique take on a fall favorite.  Oh!  We don’t use high fructose corn syrup either! 

For this pancake recipe, apple butter adds flavor, moistness, and finishes off the pancakes. You do not even have to add syrup unless you want to.

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Can I Freeze Pancakes For Later?

Yes!  Here’s how.

1. Place cooked through pancakes on a lined cookie tray.
2. Let them cool a bit.  Say five minutes or so.
3. Put pan in the freezer for about half an hour.  Pancakes should be frozen.
4. Put frozen pancakes in a re-sealable freezer bag using a small tear of parchment paper between each one.
5.  Use frozen pancakes within eight weeks.  

To reheat, you can place on a microwave safe plate and nuke them.  I go about 15 seconds per pancake, but all microwaves are different.  Just don’t turn these luscious pancakes into crispy critters! 

If you are feeding a crowd, plop the frozen pancakes on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper and cover them tightly with foil.  Put in a preheated oven at 350 for ten minutes. 

Apple Butter pancakes are very moist.  Don’t worry about adding butter when warming.  You really don’t need it. 

Cooking with Kids – Yay for Pancake Day!

Sometimes grown-up pancakes are a little hard to flip.  For a fun alternative, try Silver Dollar Pancakes.  You remember those?

They are little pancakes, literally the size of a silver dollar.  If you place the batter by the tablespoons full, you should get about 30 mini-pancakes. 

Kids love these! 

For a crowd, serving Silver Dollar Pancakes along with a full buffet of breakfast goodies allows everyone to have a sample without sacrificing tastings of the other good eats. 

Two Cautions

1. Cast iron skillets get hot.  Make sure you turn the handle in so little hands don’t grab the skillet and pull it down on them. 
2. Wear shoes when you cook. If you drop a cast iron skillet on your toes, it hurts.  If the skillet is hot, you are going to get a nasty burn. 

My sister-in-law, a social worker, has a saying; “We ain’t going to the hospital today.” 

We hear this when she thinks one of us are doing something dangerous.  It’s a family motto. 

Be safe y’all! 

What is Pancake Day?

Do you really need a reason to enjoy pancakes?

If so, Pancake Day is just for you.  Part of the Lent, Mardi Gras, and Carnival food tradition, pancakes are often made on Shrove Monday or Shrove Tuesday.  The custom is an ancient one. 

According to editors at The Local Palate, a southern based food magazine:

Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, is most frequently referred to as Mardi Gras. In many countries, though, it’s also celebrated as Pancake Day.

Pancakes made of eggs and butter were thought to be quite indulgent. Historically, pancakes were made before Lent fasting to use up those ingredients. 

Mardi Gras Pancake Day can fall anywhere between February and April, a month or so before to Easter.

I hope you do not limit yourself to pancakes just for the celebration.  Life is short!  Stack up those pancakes and dig in! 

Serving Suggestions

• These pancakes stack well.  Play up the height by serving on a dessert plate.  The presentation will be more dramatic.
• If you want Silver Dollar Pancakes, drop batter by tablespoon into the hot skillet.  This recipe should make about 30 mini-pancakes.  Fun for kids!
• Sometimes I get in a hurry.  A leftover pancake with a teaspoon of apple butter and a slice of crisp bacon folded up like a taco is a quick fix for an afternoon snack or breakfast on the go.
• Pancakes for supper?  Why not!  Serve with a slice of oven browned ham and stewed apples.  You can thank me later.

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