Poker Chip Pancake Stacks With Maple And Cream Cheese Frosting Food

APPLE BACON CREPES WITH MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• For the frosting: Beat together the butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and maple syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer) until smooth and creamy.
• For the apple-bacon filling: Cook the bacon in a medium skillet over medium heat until the fat renders out and the bacon becomes crispy. Scoop out the bacon and place on a paper-towel-lined plate. Add the apples to the bacon fat and cook over medium heat until the apples are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the maple syrup and cinnamon and cook until sticky and caramelized, 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• For the crepe batter: Whisk together the cake mix, milk, egg and egg white in a large bowl until smooth. Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet and spray liberally with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle about 3 ounces of batter into the pan and cook over medium heat until the bottom starts to brown and the top of the crepe begins to bubble, 1 to 2 minutes. Work around the edge of the crepe with a rubber spatula to begin to release it from the pan. Gently flip the crepe over, spraying more nonstick spray as needed. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer. Remove the crepe and place on a serving dish. Repeat with the remaining batter.
• To assemble: Spread the filling generously over half of each crepe and top with a few tablespoons of bacon. Fold the tops of the crepe over and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Sprinkle additional bacon on top if desired.

PANCAKE CAKE WITH MAPLE CREAM FROSTING

Steps:

• To make the pancakes:
• In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, rye flour, cornmeal, granulated and brown sugars, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, whole eggs, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and fold in the wet just until moistened.
• Coat 8-inch skillet with some melted butter and heat over medium-low heat. Pour 1/2 cup of the batter into the pan and cook for 1 1/2 minutes, or until large bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Carefully flip the pancake over and cook for 1 minute longer, or until the underside is just cooked through. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter to make 6 pancakes and let cool to room temperature.
• To make the filling:
• In a bowl, with and electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth. Beat in 4 tablespoons of the maple syrup and the confectioners' sugar until well combined.
• To assemble the cake:
• Spread each pancake with one-sixth of the filling (about 5 tablespoons). Place one of the pancakes on a platter and stack the remaining pancakes on top. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon maple syrup over the top of the cake.

CANNOLI CUPCAKES WITH RICOTTA AND CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line muffin pans with paper liners.
• Sift the cake flour, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the buttermilk, oil, vanilla and eggs. Slowly add the sifted ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the orange zest.
• For the cheesecake: In the bowl of an electric mixer, place the cream cheese and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the ricotta and granulated sugar and beat until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the cornstarch. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in. Add the mini chocolate chips and vanilla until everything is beaten in smoothly.
• For the crust: In small bowl, combine the pistachios, butter and granulated sugar.
• To assemble: Put 2 teaspoons of the pistachio crust into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Pour a heaping 1/4 cup batter over the top of the crust. Put the cheesecake mixture into a piping bag and fill up the rest of the cupcake liner until it is a little past three-quarters full. Bake, 17 to 19 minutes. When cool enough to handle, transfer the cupcakes to a sheet pan and place in the fridge while you prepare the frosting.
• For the frosting: In an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy and all the lumps have disappeared. Beat in the ricotta and vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until combined.
• Frost each cupcake with the ricotta cheese frosting.

CORN CAKE BREAKFAST STACKS WITH MAPLE BUTTER

Steps:

• For the corncakes, whisk together eggs, buttermilk and melted butter in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in corn kernels. Sift together cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk-corn mixture and stir until just combined. Let stand for 20 minutes in a cool place.
• For the maple butter: blend the softened butter with 1/2 cup maple syrup in a small bowl and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, brown the bacon strips. Drain them on paper towels and transfer to a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the apple slices with cinnamon and salt to taste. Sear them in bacon renderings until golden brown and place them on the sheet pan with the bacon. Wipe out your skillet and return to medium heat. Add just enough butter to coat the bottom of the skillet and ladle 1/4 cup corn batter. Let cook until the edges of the pancake start to brown and bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip, cook another 2 minutes, then transfer to the cookie sheet with the apples and the bacon. Repeat until you have a dozen corncakes.
• Place the cookie sheet and your serving plates in the oven until everything is warm, about 4 minutes. On each plate, place 1 corn cake, top that with 2 strips of bacon, another corn cake, 2 slices of apple and another corn cake. Top with maple butter and drizzle the plate with some of the warmed maple syrup. Garnish with a sprig of mint, powdered sugar and a few fresh berries if you desire.

RED VELVET PANCAKES

Steps:

• Mix all of the pancake ingredients (except the food colouring) together in a large bowl, whisk thoroughly until smooth. Now add a small amount of red food colouring and mix again. Add more colouring until the batter is a rich reddish brown.
• Put a small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and cook until melted and foaming. Pour 2 tbsp of the mixture into the pan and use the back of the spoon to shape it into a 8-9cm round disc. Depending on the size of your pan you may be able to get 2 or 3 pancakes to cook at the same time. Cook for 2-3 mins on the first side, then flip over and cook for another 1 min on the other.
• Heat oven to its lowest setting and stack up the cooked pancakes on a baking tray to keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest. In a small bowl mix together the cream cheese and maple syrup then set aside until needed. To serve, stack the pancakes with the cream cheese mixture and chocolate chips in between them then finish with a final dollop of the cream cheese, a dusting of icing sugar and a few fresh blueberries if you like.