Sunday Morning Breakfast

Sunday mornings call for pancakes. I myself am not even a huge breakfast fan but pancakes have a special place reserved for them in my stomach. My craving for pancakes today was different than usual, I knew I wanted something with extra flavor instead of plain-old classic buttermilk pancakes. When I stumbled upon Bobby Flay's recipe for Cinnamon Mascarpone Pancakes with Warm Morello Cherries and Hazelnuts, two words stuck out; cinnamon and mascarpone. Now don't get me wrong, the cherries and hazelnuts sounded wonderful but seeing as I had neither on hand, I needed to improvise. After all, part of being a good cook is knowing how to improvise.
I ended up not having to improvise too much for this recipe as I have for some in the past. The only changes I really made was subbing lemon zest for the orange zest it called for, amping up the cinnamon, and using maple syrup instead of making my own cherry syrup with hazelnuts. The results?

Absolutely delicious.

The interesting thing about these pancakes is not only do they have mascarpone in the batter, but mascarpone is the finishing touch to these little beauties. The mascarpone is sweetened with a little powdered sugar and makes a wonderful substitute for whipped cream, I actually prefer it. The mascarpone is creamy like whipped cream but smooth and rich so it melts over the top just like butter. I would almost say the dollop of sweetened mascarpone on top is actually my favorite part.

The recipe for my take on the pancakes can be found on my allrecipes page. I hope you enjoy these bright and spicy pancakes as much as I do!

-Madison