Them Apples

I have three corncobs hanging on my door. I've recently driven across two states with a pumpkin in a car seat. My boyfriend, Alex, clocked me at a 6 on the one-to-crazy scale when I stopped on the quad to fill my bicycle basket with fallen leaves. He says it was my helmet and the way I was zigzagging across the paths and grass. I'm pressing those leaves in a phone book weighed down with Dickens and a few of his friends—probably Browning, you know, for posterity. What I'm trying to say is: Fall is my jam.

So I made apple pancakes. Genius really: Apple. And then in pancakes. A coworker sent me the recipe from smittenkitchen and I tried it out in Michigan last weekend for my halfsiblings' fourth birthdays.

The pancakes were pretty fantastic—apple pancakes, come on—and pretty easy to put together. I don't measure well which is why baking has always been a challenge to me, but the pancakes were forgiving of my ½ palmspoon measurement system.

I do have a few thoughts: I'd recommend grating the apples after measuring your wets and drys. We realized a little late that we were missing baking powder (a quick google told me that was the fluffing agent I didn’t want to do without) and in the time it took to run to the store, the apples—which had begun to color almost immediatley—really started to brown. Other advice includes making sure you have all of your ingredients before starting.

Also, the 'cakes definitely benefit from the addition of cinnamon. I wouldn't "perhaps" it as smittenkitchen says. The spice provides an incredible warmth and gives every bite a holiday glow. It was like eating memories. Really delicious memories.

I’ll be making these bad boys again—that’s happening. It sure is nice living in the apple basket of the country.