International House of Pancakes

I was a bit bummed this morning when the sun wasn't shining through our bedroom windows calling me outside, but I guess it cant be sunny and gorgeous here every day, I mean it is the middle of winter!  There was only one way I knew to get past these gray skies, a special breakfast!  We didn't jump into the car and head to the chain pancake restaurant, instead I surveyed the kitchen and browsed a few recipes.  In my head I was thinking pancakes, I rarely eat pancakes but they sounded so fluffy and appealing, until I came across this recipe for a German whole wheat "pancake" with pears.  Whole wheat, baked in a skillet, with fruit, heck yeah!  I made a couple swaps for my version: took out the milk and used Almond milk, swapped the sugar for agave syrup, used one apple and one pear instead of two pears.

It is a very simple recipe and since you actually bake it in the skillet, you don't have to mess around with flipping the pancakes or a hot griddle.

I wanted the pancake to be delish and look pretty, so I took the time to lay the fruit pieces in a somewhat decorative swirl : )

 It came out of the oven all golden and smelling like pie...

 Dusted the slices with a bit of powdered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup, and there you go!

This pancake had great flavor and was light but filling, and incredibly easy to make.  I will have to say though that it was more souffle-like than pancake-like which I was kind of thinking when I saw how liquidy the batter was.  I don't believe the measurements were off in the recipe, I think that is just how this recipe is suppose to turn out.   I imagine you could use a variety of fruit in place of the apples/pears and it would turn out just as great.

With a happy belly I was all set to get my shop on at the farmers market, check out the bounty I brought home!  I love living in California and having access to all of these gorgeous organic local foods, it makes me very happy.

 Hope you all have a bountiful weekend!