Mascarpwned: Tiramisu Pancakes

So I really love Twitter. While for a large part it’s just another social media tool for oversharing (pot kettle much?), I love how I get exposed to things that would normally never be part of my life. Like getting to hear all about these incredible events that I’m not rich enough (famous enough, cool enough, etc) to attend. And knowing just how many people out there are hopeless Apple fanboys/girls tweeting every new inane little detail about every single product, no matter how irrelevant it may be to their lives or mine. Hell, just this week I get to be reminded innumerable times a day about just how awesome it is that other people are at SXSW festival and I’m not one of them.

But once in awhile, real miracles happen. I’m not talking about handicapped children walking, or my wife taking out the garbage. I’m talking about the real thing here. Something like fate.

Something like this recipe for tiramisu pancakes coming into my life.

Earlier in the week, I saw someone tweet this recipe from Steamy Kitchen. The Steamy Kitchen post used a recipe from The Ivory Hut, and as soon as I saw the two words “tiramisu” and “pancakes” put together in joyous harmony, I knew they would one day be mine.

So I waited patiently for the weekend, fantasizing about this and gradually collecting ingredients… and then the magic day arrived.

There are three parts to the recipe. The cream, the glaze, and the pancakes.

Serves about 5 (20 medium sized pancakes).

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients for cream:

- 4 oz. mascarpone
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 2 tbsp coffee liquer
- 2 tbsp maple syrup

Ingredients for glaze:

- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tbsp softened butter
- 2 tbsp coffee liquer

Ingredients for pancakes:

(Dry)
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- about 1 tbsp salt, give or take

(Wet)
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp instant coffee

The food miles on this one are off the charts. It’s difficult to keep it under reins when there are things like flour, sugar, cocoa powder, etc., involved. Plus, well, there are just a ton of ingredient to begin with. Too bad.

Okay let’s do this. If you’ve read this far, you’re making these things. Don’t back out on me now.

Combine mascarpone, whipping cream, coffee liquer, and maple syrup in a medium size bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. You can do it by hand if you want but a mixer makes quick work of it. Set aside in the fridge.

Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. Set aside.

Get two medium sized bowls. Mix dry pancake ingredients in one bowl. Make sure to sift flour and cocoa powder to avoid lumps. Combine wet ingredients in the second bowl until all are thoroughly dissolved and mixed.

I learned a valuable lesson about the difference between regular coffee and instant coffee in the creation of this dish. Instant coffee dissolves. Regular coffee? Not so much. Serious smack-your-forehead moment here. The recipe calls for instant coffee but I didn’t have any, so I used regular to stir it into the wet mix bowl. It never dissolved. So I had to spend an additional 20 minutes or so straining the coffee back out of the bowl. Ugh. Lesson learned.

Combine the wet and dry ingredient bowls. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Lumps are okay here, they’ll give you some texture.

Turn on the heat under your griddle or cast-iron skillet. Let it get to a good range, I usually cook my pancakes around 5 or 6 out of ten. The batter can sit for awhile with no problem. It’ll give you a good idea if it’s the right consistency – if it seems too dry, add a little more milk. If it’s too liquidy, add a little flour.

The suggestion on The Ivory Hut to use a measuring cup to pour the batter is a good one. Drizzle some into your griddle/skillet and cook for a minute or two. When the liquid starts to bubble and the edges look done, it’s ready to flip. I like to use a spatula that has a little give because it allows you to be a little more gentle with your cakes.

Serve by drizzling glaze over each pancake, topping each with cream in a stack, and dusting with cocoa powder.

So yeah, about 750 calories for these suckers. That’s a high-side estimate, because I didn’t wind up using nearly 1/5th of the glaze or cream when making a serving and I (er, my wife) calculated the calories for the total of all ingredients. The good news is it’s totally worth every calorie. It’s also very versatile – the pancakes are good both warm or cold, and it could easily (and perhaps more appropriately) serve as a dessert instead of a breakfast.

Can you hear the angels singing?

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