My wonderful husband of more than 31 years has recently taken to making me Sunday brunch. This is a man who never did any cooking during our marriage but has now become a master pancake maker. I saw this recipe one day when I was trolling food blogs and I brought it home thinking it sounded interesting. He had recently made ricotta lemon pancakes very successfully so I knew that he now had the confidence to try these. The only problem is that the original recipe made 12 large pancakes and no matter how delicious that was way more than we could consume. I didn’t mind having some left-overs but we really felt that it made sense to cutthe recipe down to a more manageable size. These were without a doubt THE most delicious pancakes – EVER. I think I will keep him for another 31 years!

Perhaps when Matthew and Frances come to visit we will make the full amount, although their next visit falls during Pesach, so it will have to wait for another time.

Amaretti-Mascarpone Pancakes adapted from Mario Batali

Yield: 7 large pancakes (2 per person is plenty, but someone might eat only one or possibly 3)

Ingredients

1.5 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

7 fluid ounces fat-free milk

1/4 cup mascarpone

8 teaspoons (2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) buttermilk

1/2 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter plus more for the pan

3/4 teaspoon amaretto (optional – I had this so the small amount wasn’t a deterrant; however most of the flavor comes from the amaretti cookies)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup crushed amaretti cookies plus more for garnish (optional – we didn’t use for garnish)

Maple syrup for serving

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to about 225 degrees F and set a baking pan in the oven lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until incorporated and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, mascarpone, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg yolks until smooth.
4. Using an electric hand mixer or standing mixer, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Take about 1/4 cup of the egg whites and mix through the batter thoroughly to lossen up the batter. Then fold the remaining egg whites carefully into the batter with the crushed amaretti cookies.
5. In a medium, non-stick skillet, heat 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of the batter to the pan and cook, flipping once, until golden brown and fluffy – about 1 minute per side). Add more butter as needed when cooking the remaining pancakes. As a pancake finishes cooking, place it in the oven to keep warm. Do not try to more than one at a time unless using a long griddle pan.
6. If desired (we didn’t) you can serve with crushed amaretti cookies on top and warm maple syrup on the side.