Fig Pancakes

When I lived in New York, the older Italians loved their figs but they had to wrap their fig trees in tar paper to prevent them from freezing in the winter. That’s way too much work for me. Having a fig tree that is low maintenance is one of the benefits of living in the south. All you need to do is fertilize and water it.

Sundays or company always means a big brunch in our house. On those really special occasions I tend to go all out, especially if it’s August and we can’t figure out what to do with all of the figs that are ripening on our tree. This pancake recipe with fresh figs may be a little over the top, my wife says it’s like eating dessert for breakfast, but it’s worth it. If you want to tone it down a bit just eliminate the fig jam and the Nutella^®. The fig pancakes are still great with just maple syrup.

Makes 12 Pancakes

Dry Ingredients

2 C All-Purpose Flour

½ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Kosher Salt or ½ tsp Table Salt

2 tsp Sugar

 

Wet Ingredients

2 Lg Eggs

2 C Buttermilk (1 Pint)

4 TBS Melted Butter (cool before adding)

1 Stick Butter (for greasing the pan) *

1 ½ C Fresh Figs *

Fig Jam

Nutella^® Chocolate Hazelnut Spread *

¼ C Chopped Hazelnuts (optional) *

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl with a whisk and set aside.

Heat an electric griddle to 350°F or a shove top griddle to high.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and the melted butter until thoroughly combined. Pour on top of the dry ingredients and, using a whisk, mix until just combined and some lumps still exist. Don’t over mix or you will have tough pancakes. These will make thick pancakes. If you like thinner pancakes add a little milk to thin out the batter.

 

Cut the stems off of the figs and chop them into ½ inch cubes.

Butter the griddle and place a small drop of batter onto the griddle to make sure it is hot.

Wipe off the griddle with a paper towel. If you have too much butter you will get spotty pancakes.

Pour ¼ cup of the pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle with 1 ½ tablespoons of figs. Cook until bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the bottom of the pancake is golden brown. Flip the pancakes and cook another 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set and golden brown.

Place one pancake on a plate and spread with fig jam. Place a second pancake on top and spread with a thin layer of Nutella^®. Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on top.

* Pronto Substitutes

Butter – You can substitute Crisco^® Shortening for the butter.

Nutella – You can substitute Maple Syrup for the Nutella.

Hazelnuts – You can substitute chopped Pecans or whole toasted Pine Nuts

Figs – You can substitute Blueberries but it will taste totally different

Buttermilk

Now some of you may be tempted to substitute regular milk for the buttermilk…don’t do it. The buttermilk is an important flavoring component of pancakes and gives pancakes its distinctive flavor. Even those packaged pancake mixes have powdered buttermilk in them.