These hearty whole grain pancakes full of protein and fiber are sweetened naturally with a warm, cinnamon-scented apple topping.
Have you gone apple picking yet this season?? We recently took our 2-year-old son to a nearby orchard and had a blast running through rows and rows of picturesque apple trees.
Doesn’t it look like an illustration straight from a page out of a children’s book?? The weather was ideal: partly sunny with a high in the lower 60’s. We could break out our favorite fall clothes without worrying about heavy coats.
We also discovered that toddlers make excellent apple pickers! In fact, he didn’t eat a single apple before we left the orchard. I wish I could say the same for our blueberry picking experience where he ate 10 berries for every 1 that landed in our bucket. :)
To celebrate our apple bounty I whipped up a batch of fluffy pancakes filled with lots of hearty grains, protein, fiber and other nutrients. Instead of the usual maple syrup I decided to create a simple warm apple topping full of cinnamon, ginger and cloves. My son was actually more interested in the apple topping than the pancakes! It was definitely a winner.
What will you be cooking and baking this apple season??
Your fork is waiting.
Whole Grain Pancakes with Warm Apple Topping
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole grain pancake mix (such as Bob’s Red Mill 7 Grain)
- 1 medium apple (grated)
- ½ ripe banana (mashed)
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups fat free milk (or almond milk)
- 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (low fat or any flavor yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil (or melted coconut oil)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Warm Apple Topping
- ½ tablespoon butter (unsalted)
- 3 apples (cored and thinly sliced)
- ¼ cup apple cider (or water or apple juice)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together pancake ingredients until combined (pancake mix through ground cloves.) (Be careful not to over-mix so that the pancakes turn out light and fluffy. Lumps are ok!)
- Heat non-stick griddle or frying pan over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray.
- Pour batter on to griddle 1/4 cup at a time. Flip once bubbles start to form and cook an additional minute or so until the other side is browned. Continue until batter is gone.
- While pancakes are cooking, prepare the warm apple topping. Start by melting butter in a small sauce pot over medium heat. Begin cooking apple slices in butter for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently.
- Add cider, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, nutmeg and cloves then stir until combined. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Serve pancakes with warm apple topping.
These sound delicious and healthy, i’ll be trying them soon.
Oh good let me know how you like them!!
These pancakes look soo delicous and the photos of the apple orchards are just beautiful
Thank you so much Rochelle!!
Greetings! This is my first visit to your site. I zipped over from Lori at Taste with the Eyes, and am I ever glad I did. These pancakes sound great. And I love the shots of your son. It’s good to hear he did so well in the orchard. I enjoy seeing the little ones getting involved and learning just where their food comes from. Congratulations on a great post!
Oh I’m so glad you said hi!! Thanks so for stopping by! Let me know if you try any of my recipes!
We’re hoping to go apple picking this weekend! Then I can make these pancakes!
OH good!! I hope you have so much fun!!!
Oh my gosh! I wish we had a little apple farm to go to! The pancakes look incredible!
I wish you did too!! I should’ve thrown some spelt in these bad boys!
These look delicious! We must make pancakes at least twice a week and I’m always looking for a way to jazz them up! We don’t get to do much apple picking in Utah but I did just pick up a 5lb bag from the farmers market!
You would love the apple topping. It was pretty much like eating the inside of an apple pie. :)
I have 6 pounds of apples in the fridge waiting to be used! (The first 4 went into a pie, lol). These pancakes are definitely on the apple-baking-palooza list. Thanks Liz!
Oh yes you have got to try this then Erin! It’s funny I’m trying to work up the nerves to make a pie. ;)
Liz,
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who needs to work up the nerve to bake a pie.
Really, it’s the crust that stops me cold. Pizza dough is a cinch, but pie crust? Shudders!
These pancakes plus the topping look delicious.
Thank you!
That’s too funny- pizza dough is so much scarier to me!!! Yeast!! hahah
I don’t even LIKE apples (well apple pie type stuff), but this looks YUMMY. AND it’s good for me too!
It’s funny I’m not a *Huge* apple fan compared to strawberries or blueberries but this topping was like eating apple pie!!
Looks delish! What a perfect autumn breakfast!
Thank you Sue! Let me know if you try it sometime!!
These sound amazing! Yummy. :) Love that they’re whole grain. Woohoo!
And hooray for apple picking! I can’t wait for a sunny weekend day. :)
Oh I hope you get a sunny weekend day soon!!! We have been lucking out lately!!
I’m am so making these. We love pancakes around here and I like the ingredients you added to the mix.
And those apples are so enticing. I’ve never seen apples that beautifully red. Must be the Michigan air.
There is just something about fall and pancakes that goes so well together!! :)