Caramel Latte Pancakes

Tomorrow is one of my favourite holidays of the year: Pancake Tuesday!

I don't know if other people celebrate the day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) the same way that my family does, but for my whole life, Pancake Tuesday has meant that we get to eat a giant stack of pancakes for dinner! The pancake selection in our family has grown over the years so that we now have a selection of four types of pancakes on Pancake Tuesday (plain, blueberry, chocolate chip, and either apple or banana). But because I love to experiment, I usually end up making something a little fancier and different for myself around this time of year.

This year, I decided to try something I've never tried or even heard of before: caramel latte pancakes. The idea came from these amazing looking cappuccino pancakes with mocha syrup that I recently saw on The Pastry Affair. I loved the idea of cappuccino pancakes, but since my favourite Starbucks drink is a caramel macchiato (or, in the summer time, a caramel frappuccino), I decided to try to copy the flavour of that drink with these pancakes.

I adapted the pancake recipe from The Pastry Affair by adding in some vanilla and cinnamon and increasing the sugar a bit to balance out the bitterness of the coffee. Then I decided to top the pancakes with whipped cream and an easy caramel sauce.

I was really hoping that these would turn out as good as I imagined they'd be in my head, and as you can probably tell from the pictures, they certainly did not disappoint! The pancakes had a nice coffee flavour that wasn't overwhelming, but was definitely noticeable. When the warm caramel sauce was drizzled over the whipped cream, it all melted down the sides of the pancakes so that every bite ended up with some whipped cream foam and sweet caramel sauce. It was heavenly!

These definitely reminded me of a warm caramel macchiato from Starbucks. They were so good that I made them twice over this past long weekend, though they definitely aren't the type of breakfast I would eat on a regular basis as they're not exactly a healthy way to start the day. But if you're a coffee lover and want to make something extra special to celebrate Pancake Tuesday or any other day, you've got to try these!

Update: If you're looking for more pancake recipes, I've pinned over 60 pancakes from other blogs on Pinterest, so check out my board for lots of ideas!

Caramel Latte Pancakes

Inspired by Starbucks’ caramel macchiato; Coffee pancakes adapted from The Pastry Affair; Caramel syrup adapted from Po’ Man Meals

Makes about 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

For the Pancakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons instant espresso or coffee (depending on how strong of a coffee flavour you’d like)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Caramel Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For Topping:

Light whipped cream

Directions:

Make the Caramel Sauce:

Add the butter and brown sugar to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly thickened. Slowly stir in the milk and continue to simmer until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Make the Pancakes:

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, coffee, cinnamon, salt, sugar) in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients (egg, milk, butter, vanilla) in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly butter the pan, and once hot, add pancake batter by the 1/4 cup full (use a small spatula or spoon to spread the batter into a circle if it's too thick). Cook for a couple of minutes until bubbles start to form on the top, then flip and cook for another minute or so, until golden brown on both sides.

Assemble the Dish:

Quickly reheat caramel sauce until it is warm and pourable. Stack pancakes on a plate. Top with whipped cream and drizzle a spoonful of caramel sauce on top. Serve immediately.