Salted Caramel Hotcakes

Posted on 6 May, 2015

Salted caramel hotcakes… did you really need an excuse?

I’ve never really understood dieting. I mean, don’t get me wrong I do get the whole idea of eating healthy and looking after your body. It’s a temple. Blah blah blah. But I also figure if I totally deny myself the delicious things in life, I’ll just end up cranky and miserable.

And we all know that leads to situations like getting into a fight with an old man at the deli ’cause they called out my number but he pushed in cause he said he was first, but he has no regard for order and the ticket system, and I need my 150g of fish to go with my asparagus sticks for dinner ’cause I’m STARVING. Next thing you know you’re in the car park at KFC with a family bucket on your head…Oh, ahem…

Look, it’s called sometimes food cause it’s ok to eat it sometimes. And this is one of those times.

After an all out crappy week, I could think of worse things than snuggling up on the couch, watching trash tv and tucking into a stack of warm ricotta hotcakes drizzled with velvety salted caramel sauce.

As long as you balance it out with some exercise (walking to the bench to get more sauce doesn’t count), the occasional green vegetable here and lean protein there (seriously though, why don’t people on the reality cooking shows just call it meat?!), I say why the hell not.

These fluffy little happiness pillows are heaven on a plate. They’re so light you could almost be forgiven for thinking they couldn’t possibly be bad for you. Surely they’re mostly air, right? Wrong. But not to worry, the addition of coconut makes them healthy.

They are totally luxurious. Topped with caramelised banana (fruit = bonus health points) and smothered in salted caramel (liquid gold, friends and also dangerously easy to make). And just because we’re all about saying no to diets, I’ve sprinkled some almond praline crumble on top and finished them off with a dollop of whipped cream (cause that’s what this recipe needed…more cream).

So whip up these delicious hotcakes for yourself. Frankly, you’ve earned it. Besides, there’s always next week to start the diet.

Coconut & ricotta hotcakes with salted caramel sauce

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Salted caramel sauce

200g caster sugar

125ml cold water

100g unsalted butter, cubed

50ml thickened cream

50ml creme fraiche

1 tsp flaked sea salt

Hotcakes

250g ricotta cheese (full fat)

3 eggs (separated. Don’t throw away the whites! You’ll be needing them)

130ml full cream milk

1 tsp coconut essence

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

100g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To serve

3 bananas, halved lengthways and width-ways into quarters

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

100g almond praline (store bought), crushed with a mortar and pestle

100g desiccated coconut, lightly toasted

Instructions

For the hotcakes 

Place the milk, egg yolks, ricotta, coconut essence and vanilla bean paste in a bowl and mix well to combine. Add the baking powder, self-raising flour and salt and whisk until smooth. Lightly beat the egg whites until foamy and fold them into the ricotta mixture.

Heat the butter and vegetable oil in a frying pan (you may need two frying pans. Or you can put the oven on low heat and keep the cooked hotcakes warm while you’re cooking the rest).

Place a tablespoon of pancake mixture into the frying pan for each pancake – not too much, because you want them to be little golden crunchy pillows of goodness that are light and fluffy on the inside.

Cook them on each side for about three minutes until golden, keeping the ones that are ready warm in the oven on no more than 100C (or 80C for fan-forced) while you cook the rest.

For the salted caramel sauce 

Toss the sugar into a large saucepan and pour in the water, making sure all the sugar is covered. Cook over medium heat for around 7-10 minutes or until the mixture starts to brown. It’s VERY important that you DO NOT stir the mixture while it’s cooking at all. You will want to stir, believe me. But whatever you do, resist the urge, or the mixture will crystallise and solidify.

Once the mixture turns a dark amber colour (just amber, not dark brown – you’ll be able to tell by the smell when it’s ready to come off, if it gets too dark it will start to smell too burnt).

Take off the heat once a deep amber colour and smells like slightly burning caramel, and whisk in the butter until it’s all melted. Stir in the cream and creme fraiche mixture and the salt. Taste (be careful not to burn your tongue!) and add more salt to your taste if needed.

Tip: you can store the sauce in an air-tight container for a few days and reheat to pour over ice-cream (or anything else really). Or you can just eat it out of the container…no judgement. We’ve all been there.

For the caramelised bananas 

Heat the butter over medium heat in a large frying pan until it starts to bubble and foam. Add bananas and cook for about 3 minutes. Sprinkle over brown sugar and turn the bananas, cooking in the buttery sugar for another 2 minutes.

Serve hotcakes in a stack with the lovely bananas next to them, drizzling salted caramel sauce over the top, then adding a dollop of thickened cream, a sprinkling of praline crumble and some toasted coconut to serve. Life complete.

Want more delicious recipes? Check out Little Food Blog!