American Style Pancakes with Amerena Cherries

You know how you sometimes order a dish in a restaurant while on holiday, that you enjoy so much, you just have to try to make it yourself when you get home?  Well, that happened to me while on a trip to Ludlow last November (see here).  I had the most amazing breakfast one morning and while it wasn’t a complicated dish, it was one of the tastiest I’ve had in a long time!!

They were advertised on the menu as Italian Pancakes with Mascarpone and Amerena Cherries, and that was really all there was to it (apart from a dusting of icing sugar)!!

Feargal thinks these type Breakfasts are more like desserts and while I secretly (sort of) agree with him, I won’t acknowledge it as I enjoy them so much 🙂

There are probably specific recipes out there for Italian Pancakes but to me what I had tasted like the fluffy American Style that I would make myself.  The mascarpone wasn’t flavoured in any way that I noticed – I guess you could sweeten it with some icing sugar or a little touch of vanilla extract.  The Amerena Cherries were new to me but having researched them when I came home, discovered that they are an Italian speciality and I have only been able to source them from an Italian Food Store.

These pancakes are really light and fluffy and the secret to getting them this way is to separate the eggs and whisk the whites until stiff peaks before adding in to the batter.

You could also serve these pancakes with a fruit compote (see here) but I would recommend that you source the Amarena cherries if you can as it is so worth it – they remind me of the taste of cherry cola (a memory from my childhood!!)

I hope you get the opportunity to make this breakfast and enjoy it as much as I did….

Ingredients:
3 Large Eggs
115g Plain Flour
1 Heaped Teaspn Baking Powder
140ml Milk
Pinch of Salt
Knob of Butter

To Serve:
Mascarpone Cheese
Amerena Cherries

Method:

1. Separate the eggs  between two large bowls.  Add the flour, baking powder and milk to the yolks and mix to form a smooth batter.
2. In a clean dry bowl, whisk the egg whites with the pinch of salt until soft peaks form and then fold this into the egg yolk mixture using a metal spoon
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and spray with baking spray (or melt a knob of butter if you don’t have spray).  Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter for each pancake onto the pan.  Fry until golden and when air bubbles start to pop on the top surface of the pancake flip over and cook the other side.  You will know they are cooked when they are firm to the touch.
4. Repeat until all batter has been used – you can put your oven on very low (around 100ºC) and keep them warm until ready to serve

To Serve:

1. Put one pancake on your serving plate.  Place a large dessert spoon of the cheese onto the pancake and then top with another pancake.  Dust your stack and the plate with icing sugar.
2. Finally, spoon a couple of tablespoons of the cherries onto the side of the plate making sure to add some of the juice from the jar as it is delicious

Just as an afterthought, these cherries are also delicious served with warm homemade chocolate brownies and another scoop of that delicious Mascarpone!!

Enjoy 🙂