Carob Pancakes with Roasted Pears and Whipped Carob Butter

This basic pancake recipe is one of my all-time breakfast favourites. By whipping the egg whites separately in addition to using a combination of baking soda and buttermilk for lift, these pancakes always come out ultra fluffy and delicious. You can even make large batches of the dry mix in advance and mix it up with the eggs, butter and buttermilk whenever you feel like something special for breakfast!

This recipe was written for the Christmas 2020 edition of Served Magazine and carob was one of the central themes. I was asked to make a breakfast recipe and this seemed like a perfect fit. The addition of the carob flour gives the pancakes loads of flavour and a beautiful colour. To stick to the theme I roasted the pears in carob syrup which turned out to be a great match. The pears become sweet and warming, with an almost savoury flavour from the carob. The whipped carob butter adds a little bit of decadence to the dish and brings everything together nicely.

Image taken by Stephen Galea for Served magazine Christmas 2020

Ingredients

Pancake Dry Mix
160g all-purpose flour
80g carob flour (replace with all-purpose if you prefer)
1 teaspoons of baking powder~
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Pancake Wet Mix
2 eggs
570g buttermilk
50g melted butter

Roasted Pears
2 pears, split in half lengthways
Olive oil, salt and carob syrup to taste

Whipped Carob Butter
150g whole unsalted butter
100g carob syrup

Method

For the Garnishes

1. Cut the pears in half lengthwise and coat with olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt. Lay them face down in a heat resistant pan or baking dish lined with baking paper and drizzle lightly with carob syrup.

2. Place into an oven set to 150C and bake for 45 minutes-1 hour depending on how ripe the pears are. Slightly firmer fruit will bake better.

3. For the whipped butter, simply combine room temperature butter with the carob syrup using an electric whisk or some elbow grease. Whip until lighter in colour and consistency, roughly 3-4 minutes.

For the Pancakes

1. Sift the pancake dry mix ingredients into a mixing bowl.

2. Separate the eggs into a large mixing bowl for the egg whites and a separate bowl for the yolks with enough space to add the buttermilk.

3. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.

4. Combine the buttermilk with the egg yolks and melted butter and combine this with the dry mixture. Fold in the egg whites until the batter just comes together.

5. Place a non-stick pan over medium heat and add a small knob of butter. Add the batter to the pan to create small pancakes of about 3 heaped tablespoons of mixture without crowding the pan.

6. Once these begin to bubble, flip them over until nicely browned on both sides. You can lay these out onto a baking tray and leave them in a low oven until you are done with the entire batch.

7. Serve together with a drizzle of carob syrup.

Hungry for more chef secrets?

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