These brown butter pancakes are irresistibly good, served a salted maple caramel syrup. This simple twist on the classic breakfast favorite takes your pancakes to a whole new level of deliciousness!
Why we love this recipe
Hello and welcome to your new favorite breakfast! Alex and I came together to create an over-the-top breakfast recipe and we came up with these brown butter pancakes. Brown butter infuses a nutty essence to the pancakes, and what takes them sky high is the salted maple caramel syrup, which covers everything in salty sweet gooeyness. We are absolutely obsessed with
This recipe is a collaboration to celebrate BUTTER, a fine art fair that features artwork made by Black visual artists from Indiana and across the country. It’s one of our favorite events in the city! So we made a custom recipe starring, of course, butter in all its best forms. Learn more about BUTTER below* and buy tickets here.
Ingredient notes for brown butter pancakes
Brown butter pancakes are a fun way to take a simple pancakes recipe over the top. The brown butter infuses nutty, caramelized notes into the pancakes. But even better is the maple caramel syrup: it really takes the cake here! It brings out the sweet, salty, and nutty notes in a way that’s indescribable. We’d recommend making it if at all possible! Here are a few ingredient notes:
- Unsalted butter: The level of saltiness in salted butter varies. So using unsalted butter allows the salt content to be controlled by the amount specified in the recipe. You can also use salted butter here if it’s all you have; just use slightly salt than specified in the pancakes (¼ teaspoon).
- All purpose flour and whole wheat flour: We like adding a little whole wheat flour to pancakes to make them heartier and add a slightly nutty flavor. You can use 100% all purpose flour if desired.
- Milk: Use your milk of choice, either whole, 2%, skim, or non-dairy milk.
- Brown sugar: Use granulated sugar if desired.
- Egg: For vegan, substitute a flax egg.
- Baking powder, salt, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar: These ingredients round out the pancakes. The vinegar helps the pancakes to be fluffy: substitute any other type of vinegar if you don’t have it on hand.
Tips for the maple caramel syrup
The maple caramel syrup really carries the flavor here! It’s a salted syrup so the salty sweet flavor really takes the pancakes over the top. Here are a few notes and tips for making it:
- Find pure maple syrup. You’ll want pure maple syrup, not artificially flavored. We like syrup marked “Grade A: Dark Color Robust Taste.”
- Use heavy cream to add thickness. The cream adds thickness and shine to the syrup. For vegan, use full ft coconut milk.
- Customize the salt to taste. We like it with ¼ teaspoon salt, but you can use more or less as desired.
How to make brown butter
Brown butter is regular butter cooked a bit longer until the milk solids toast and turn golden brown, creating a nutty and caramelized flavor that adds depth and richness to dishes. You’ll want it to become very brown, then remove it from the heat right before it burns. Here are the steps for browning butter:
Step 1: Place the butter in a large skillet, cut into pieces. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. First the butter melts, then it starts to foam (around 1 ½ minutes if browning 1 stick of butter).
Step 2: Continue to stir occasionally until the foaming stops and the butter starts to bubble, typically around 4 to 5 minutes.
Step 3: Continue to stir occasionally until the butter becomes brown in color and starts to smell nutty, around 5 to 7 minutes. Immediately remove the butter from the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.
Storing leftovers
Leftover pancakes store up to 5 days refrigerated. Leftover maple caramel stores refrigerated for up to 3 days; gently re-warm it on the stovetop before serving.
More brown butter recipes
Love brown butter anything, like we do? Learn how to brown butter, make our brown butter chocolate chip cookies, or try our brown butter sage sauce.
Dietary notes
This brown butter pancakes with maple caramel recipe is vegetarian. For vegan, use a flax egg, non-dairy milk, and coconut milk for the caramel. For gluten-free, try our almond flour pancakes with brown butter.
*About BUTTER
BUTTER is a multi-day fine art fair organized by GANGGANG that features artwork made by Black visual artists from Indiana and across the country. GANGGANG is a cultural development and creative advocacy firm that works to center beauty, culture, and equity in systems and cities, testing new more equitable models with experiments like BUTTER.
Anchored in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend, BUTTER honors and amplifies the value and worth of Black artists, serving as a new model for economic justice in the arts and a catalyst for career transformation. Buy tickets here.
Description
These brown butter pancakes are irresistibly good, served a salted maple caramel syrup. This simple twist on the classic breakfast favorite takes your pancakes to a whole new level of deliciousness!
Brown Butter Pancakes
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Salted Maple Butter Drizzle
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- To make the drizzle, combine the butter and maple syrup in a saucepan. Bring it to a simmer, then simmer on low heat for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes very foamy and starts to turn a caramel color. Add the cream and boil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and pour into a pitcher to cool (it will thicken more as it cools).
- Brown the butter: Place the butter (sliced into pieces) in a skillet over medium heat. Heat for a few minutes until it melts, turns foamy, and then starts to become golden brown and then brown in color and smells nutty. For the best flavor, you’ll want the butter to be very brown: but not burnt! Be careful because it can burn very quickly. Immediately remove from the heat and transfer to a medium mixing bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Once the butter is ready and slightly cooled, whisk it in.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until a smooth batter forms. (It will thicken after it sits 1 to 2 minutes.)
- Lightly butter a skillet or griddle and wipe off extra grease with a paper towel. Heat the skillet to medium low heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle in ¼ cup scoops. Cook until the bubbles pop on the top and the bottoms are golden. Then flip them and cook until cooked through.
- Place the cooked pancakes under an inverted bowl to keep them warm. Repeat with the remaining batter, adjusting the heat as necessary to maintain an even temperature, and adding additional splash of milk to the batter if necessary. Serve immediately with maple caramel syrup.
Notes
Leftover pancakes store up to 5 days refrigerated. Leftover maple caramel stores refrigerated for up to 3 days; gently re-warm it on the stovetop before serving.
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian