Heavenly Pancakes

On Wednesday, Dusty and I couldn't help ourselves....we just had to open the Christmas presents we got each other.
Don't judge, we do this every year because we don't spend Christmas day together and we spend it with our families.

Dusty knows how much I love cooking and baking, and absolutely loves the fact I have this blog. He is so supportive and enjoys being my official food tester. I even do fancy presentation on his dishes, like on all of those competition shows like Chopped and Iron Chef, so that I can get good reviews ;)

Anyways, back to what I was getting at, one of my Christmas presents was this cookbook....

This restaurant is apparently known for being the best breakfast spot in all of New York City and after making their pancakes, I have to agree! This cookbook is filled with so many good recipes, I highly recommend getting it!

Yesterday morning I made their famous pancakes and I decided to go all out and make the "Fresh Raspberries & Whipped Lemon Cream" to go along with it.

For making this delicious breakfast, I would start by making the Raspberry Caramel Sauce and Lemon Cream first before making the pancakes. The amounts that I am giving you are for the full recipe, I only made half of this because I'm just cooking for 2 people.

Here is what you are going to need for the Raspberry Caramel Sauce:
Makes 1 cup of Sauce.
-1/2 cup Sugar
-1/4 cup Water
-3 cups of Raspberries (reserve some raspberries for garnish later)
-1/2 tsp Lemon Zest

In a pot, dissolve the sugar into the water with a whisk.

Bring the sugar-water to a boil over medium-high heat.
Don't whisk or stir while it boils, otherwise the sugar will crystallize....I found this out the hard way.

Let the sugar-water cook for 8 to 10 minutes until it becomes dark brown caramel.

Carefully add the raspberries and lemon zest to the pot, stir it all around a little bit.

Cook the sauce until caramel is dissolved and the sauce is a liquid, which takes about 5 minutes.

Then remove it from heat and immediately strain the sauce to remove the seeds. The sauce is kinda thick, so you are going to have to push it through with your spatuala.
Let the sauce cool and then when you are ready to serve it with your pancakes, you can just pop it in the microwave to heat it up.

Now it is time to make the Lemon Cream, this is what you are going to need:
-1/2 cup freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
-3/4 cup Sugar
-1/2 cup of Butter
-4 Eggs
-2 cups Heavy Cream (or 2 cups Cool Whip, it's what I had in my fridge!)

Garnish:
-Reserved Raspberries
-Lemon Zest

Set up your double boiler, or you can be creative like me and place a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. Whatever, it works!
Melt together the butter, lemon juice and sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk up the eggs and then add them to the lemon mixture.
Whisk constantly for 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickens. Every couple of minutes you should take a spatula and scrape down the sides of the bowl so the sauce doesn't curdle....EWW!

Once it thickens remove the sauce from heat and let it cool, whisk every once in a while.

You can either use the Cool Whip, or you can use a handheld mixer and make your whipped cream from the heavy cream. Whichever way you choose to do it, add the whipped cream and gently fold it into the lemon sauce. Refrigerate until needed.

 Whew, that was intense!
And that is just the sauces! Even though there are many parts to this breakfast, it is sooo worth it! I promise! Hang in there!

Now it is time for the Pancakes....Here is what you are going to need:
 -4 cups Flour
-1 tbsp + 1 tsp Baking Powder
-3/4 cup Sugar
-1 tsp Salt
-6 Eggs-separated
-3 cups Milk
-3/4 cup Butter-melted
-1 tsp Vanilla Extract

This makes 20 3-inch pancakes. I cut this recipe in half!

Sorry I didn't take pictures of this part. Dusty made the pancakes while I made the sauces.


In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla.
Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture.
Using an electic mixer, whisk the egg whites until they form medium-stiff peaks.
Gently mix in half of the whipped egg whites with your spatula and then gently fold in the other half into the pancake batter. The batter should be slightly lumpy.
Heat up your griddle or pan over medium heat and melt some butter, about 1/2 tbsp per pancake.
Add 1/4 cup of batter to the pan and flip the pancakes when the bubbles in the batter start to pop.
Flip them over and cook until both sides are golden brown.

To Serve:
Stack 3 pancakes on a plate, spoon on 3 tbsp of Lemon Cream, drizzle some Raspberry Caramel Sauce on the side, top with 3 Raspberries and Lemon Zest!

These pancakes were to die for! The actual pancake itself was so buttery and sweet that it could be eaten without sauce or syrup. Everything was absolutely delicious, it was a real treat! Apparently this is how New Yorkers do breakfast....and I like it!
Enjoy!