Fried Apple Pancakes with Butterscotch Sauce

So after yesterday’s savoury recipe, here is the sweet one.

And it’s a humdinger. Even if I do say so myself.

However, I am in a little bit of a quandary.

The fact is, after much consideration and deliberation I have decided to give up sugar – the refined stuff. For Lent. Just to see if I can do it. I know that this may seem an odd thing to do considering that this is not just a food blog, but a baking one. But there are lots of alternatives that I get to play with instead, such as fruit, coconut sugar and honey.

I don’t think I eat a huge amount of sugar but reducing the amount I consume has been something that I have been thinking a lot about recently. Especially as more and more reports come out that sugar is the root of all evil. As well as tooth decay! Don’t get me wrong, our bodies need sugar for brain function and energy, but we don’t need to get it from the highly refined and processed white variety.

And I am by no means saying that I will never touch sugar again, but I am hoping that by avoiding it for 40 days it will teach me to look at things differently. And don’t they say that it takes 40 days to make a habit?

However – do I inflict my (potentially temporary) sugar-free zone on you? Is that fair? Does the thought of no sugar make you wobble at the knees? I have a delicious sugar laden recipe all lined up and ready to go, but do I wait until Easter to share it with you? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Do you have any thoughts? Should I keep all of this waffle to myself?

But back to the here and now, before my seemingly unimportant quandary sends me into a spiral of despair, let’s go out with a bang and butterscotch sauce!

I love this butterscotch sauce because not only is it yummy, but it is quick and easy to make and will keep in the fridge for 6 months – perfect for sneaky finger dipping when you claim you need to check how much cheese there is or whether the lettuce has wilted.

You could do indecent things with this butterscotch sauce. I mean, just look at it:

I only used half an apple for the purposes of photography and I am not going to tell you what happened to the other half. But it may or may not have involved a spoon and the jug of sauce. And copious applications of said sauce to said remaining half of apple.

And – I have half a large apple left over from breakfast this morning, which I have carefully sealed in order to avoid it turning brown, and which this evening, shall also be anointed with the glossy, buttery brown stuff. Maybe.

I’ve got to get my sugar hits in now before it is too late.

As for the pancakes themselves: I came across a recipe that didn’t use pre-blended gluten-free flour. It yields acceptable results, but the pancakes are better eaten straight away. If you have any left over, you can wrap them in cling-film or foil and keep them in the fridge, but you will need to warm them up before eating and, if I am being honest, they may be a bit chewy around the edges. Not unpleasantly so, but I’m just letting you know.

The apple slices are fried in butter (with a little oil) and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Because is there a sight and smell more likely to lift your spirits on a grey afternoon than this: bubbling apples surrounded by frothy butter, from which the only sight that could possibly draw your eyes away is the jug of butterscotch sauce calling to you on the counter.

Do it. Just do it. I know you want to.

Pancake recipe was originally shown here.