Chai Apple Pancakes

I joined a new club (of sorts). 😉  Recipe Redux, is  a group of healthy recipe bloggers, among them quite a few other RDs, who network, collaborate and most importantly develop new and exciting recipes. And I am excited and honored to have the opportunity 🙂  Every month there is a theme and we are charged with taking this theme and making it our own, to develop healthy and delicious recipes. Recipe Redux has a motto “because every healthy recipe deserves to be delicious!”  Cool hum?!

This month’s theme is:

“Spooky Spices: You know they are lurking there: Way in the back of your spice drawer. There lie the herbs, spices, or rubs that are getting dusty because you’re afraid to use them… you simply don’t know what to do with them! Well, pull them out and show us a recipe you created to deliciously conquer that fearful spice”

As soon as I read this, I knew the one…

Ground Cardamom.  Ok, so this is how it all happened…my new found fear and loathing of this spice.  Well, I LOVE Chai tea and so a few years ago Pinterest kept telling me,  how easy it was to make my own very own Chai tea.  Well, so one weekend I decided to make this happen.  I was going to brew the most dreamy, spicy Chai tea ever, and would then spend the rest of the weekend luxuriating with a cup of delicious Chai in one hand and a good book in the other.  Well, I am sure you can see where this is going…long story short, after many, many attempts,  with a few different recipes, I ended up with a lot of wasted tea, a mangled version of Marasala Chia and a tummy ache.  After two days of disappointment and dyspepsia, I throw in the towel and I have been buying my Chai ever since.  🙁

Well, when this challenge came up I knew this was my Spooky Spice.  I truly havn’t used it since that fateful weekend.  So when I was thinking about this Redux, I wondered how I could make something delicious out of this difficult spice.  Well, I thought “I still love Chai spices…what can I combine them with that  is pretty hard to mess up?”  Pancakes!!  And not only did I not mess them up, they were delicious!  They will now become a regular addition in my pancakes, especially in the fall.  Yum!

First I started with my dry ingredients, I used 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 all purpose white flour.  Added my Chai spices, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar and cardamom(!).  Along with baking soda and powder and a touch of salt to bring the flavors together.  Mix this together well.

Next, for a delicious touch of fall and a boost to the nutrient value, I shredded 2 apples with a grater

Apples add so much flavor and great texture 🙂  Thoroughly stir them into the flour mixture so they are really well incorporated.

Next add your liquid: buttermilk, vanilla and eggs.

Stir until just combined.  The batter will be a bit chunky because of the shredded apple, but try not to over mix because that will keep them from fluffing up.

I use a liberal amount of butter on my griddle to cook these pancakes.  I didn’t add any butter in the recipe, so I add it now during cooking so it has a nice crispy outside 🙂

Flip’em when they start to look solid at the bottom.

Keep in mind, because of the shredded apple, they will not have that smooth fluffy look of a traditional pancake, but thats ok, they may not be the most polished pancakes, but they sure are scrumptious!  The Chai spices and the apple work together beautifully to make for a delicious pancake!

Ohhhhh….

Ahhhhh….

Enjoy and please let me know what you think in the comments below!