Johnny loves pancakes. I try to make them for him once every weekend.

I had fallen off the pancake wagon for the last month or so, and Johnny hadn’t mentioned it, so I was skating on the whole thing because he seemed to be over it. Until Friday night, when we did our usual night-night routine wherein I read him a story and then he asks me to “talk about what we’ll do in the morning.”

I always ask him if he’ll tell me what we’re doing tomorrow, and he always says, “No, Mommy. You do it.” But this time, he looked over at me and raised his eyebrows, and said “Make pancakes?” It almost broke my heart, the earnest sweetness of it all, as if he’d been wishing for them for ages and waiting patiently but he just couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Yes, we can do that,” I said. And he said “Mickey Mouse ones?” “Yes, that’s fine. We’ll make Mickey ones.” “And bacon and eggs?” Now you’re pushing it, Kid.

But I did want to make him a great breakfast, and I realized I’d been skipping pancake day for a while because I’m just tired of them. So I mulled over my options and decided to jazz them up a little for the fall. In the summer, it’s all about topping them with fresh strawberries or making blackberry butter to melt over them, but in the fall I don’t have fresh berries, so I need something else to make them sing.

I had some caramel pieces and a few good apples sitting around. I’d planned to make caramel apples on Halloween but I didn’t get to it. So instead of traditional caramel apples, I decided we’d have caramel apple pancakes. I mean, they have apples in them. So that makes them healthy enough for me, at least for this one special time.

I removed the sugar from the mix because I figured the apples and the caramel would make them sweet enough, and I was right. PLENTY sweet. Sweet enough that I didn’t put syrup on them, but just did butter and a light dusting of powdered sugar so he wouldn’t feel totally cheated.

http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2013/nov/03/264074/

Johnny’s Caramel Apple Pancakes
1 cup flour
1/2 cup apple pieces, either grated or diced very small
1/4 cup caramel pieces
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, for cooking

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the wet ingredients, and then add in the dry plus the apples and caramel. Stir together until the flour is completely incorporated.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. A too-hot skillet will make your pancakes stick. Too cool and your pancakes will be soggy and greasy. This is a delicate balance and, in my experience, takes a little practice.

Drop the mixture (it should be a little thicker than your usual batter) by 1/4 cupfuls into the skillet. When they get bubbly around the edges and begin to bubble in the middle, flip them. After just a few more seconds (maybe 15 or so), they should be done.

Full disclosure: I have a form for Mickey Mouse pancakes, but you can do them just as well by dropping two smaller “ear” pancakes on one round one.

These pancakes were Johnny-approved and, seeing as I love all things caramel, they were an extra special treat for me as well.