Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Paczki Day, or however you choose to call it, it is certainly one of springs greatest days. It is a wonderful day made to indulge in luscious, fattening desserts and that makes me extremely happy. I didn't have enough time to make doughnuts, or another batch of semlor for that matter, but I did have time for some quick pancakes. I chose to do pear topped ones, drizzled with a wine syrup. However, instead of making the pancakes flat in the pan, I opted for oven baked ones. Needless to say they still involved all those delicious fattening ingredients and I couldn't stop eating them, until I am afraid I ate too many. So easy to make and so delicious.
My inspiration for these were Yorkshire puddings and Dutch baby pancakes. I wanted to make individual servings because they are so much fun and they are way more accessible to serve than one big pancake.
RECIPE
for the pears and wine syrup:
3 cups rose wine
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup red wine
1 cup sugar
6 small Bartlett pears, pealed
for the pancakes:
oil cooking spray (for the pan)
1 cup all-purpose flour
5 eggs, room temperature (very important for the rise)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk, room temperature
to serve:
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine the wines and sugar in a saucepan and boil on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add the pears whole, and boil for 20 minutes.
Remove the pears, cover them, and set them aside.
Still continue to boil the wine syrup for another 15 minutes, or until it has reduced to a cup and a half, and then pour into a syrup dispenser.
Meanwhile make the pancakes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Generously spray a muffin tin (that holds 12 muffins) with oil cooking spray and place in the oven. Allow for the pan to preheat at the same time with the oven.
Make the batter by placing the flour into a bowl. With the help of a hand mixer, mix the eggs one at a time. Add the sugar, vanilla extract and milk while continuing to whisk until everything is incorporated.
When the oven temperature reached 450 degrees F, carefully fill each hot muffin tin 3/4ths with the batter (I ended up with 12; whatever didn't fit in the 12 muffin tins, I baked in a separate copper pot, as one big pancake; alternately, another muffin tin can be used if you want to end up with more individual pancakes). Bake for about 15 minutes (do not open the oven door until the end!).
To serve, take the pancakes out from the tins, dust with confectioner's sugar, place half a pear in each and drizzle with a generous amount of wine syrup.
Serve warm.
