Heartbreakingly Good Caramelized Peach Pancakes

Every week, Emily Vikre (a.k.a. fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast — because breakfast isn’t just the most important meal of the day. It’s also the most awesome.

Today: Have some sunny, peachy pancakes for breakfast this morning.

Are you a recipe procrastinator? I am. I don’t think that’s the real term for this phenomenon — it’s just something I made up — but what I’m talking about is the tendency to spot a recipe that you know is going to be fantastic, one that you’re dying to try, but then somehow a year, maybe two, goes by before you finally get around to cooking it.

I can recipe procrastinate with the best of them, and there’s all too often a direct relationship between how excited I am about a recipe and how long it takes me to finally give it a whirl. The ones I absolutely cannot wait to try can take me five years to get to. I’m starting to wonder if perhaps — as with a large event or holiday — the anticipation is half of the fun.

These peach pancakes have been on my to-make list since the day I received Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen Cookbook in the mail. Along with at least 90% of the food blog-reading populace, I preordered the book so that it would arrive at the earliest possible moment. Not surprisingly, the breakfast section excited me the most: I wanted to make every recipe, but I wanted to make the peach pancakes more than anything else. They were so perky and round, each with a horizontal peach slice perched on top, like a sample on a microscope slide. The peaches were golden and pink like a sunset, and Deb said they caramelized when they cooked. How brilliant! Then I went ahead and somehow cooked almost everything else but the pancakes.

More: Pick up all our favorite stone fruit-related goods on Provisions.

Finally, though, faced with the giant sack of peaches I recently picked up at the market, I remembered these pancakes and decided that it was time for them to make an appearance. I tweaked the spices, adding a kick of fresh ginger and a splash of bourbon. I also swapped the sour cream for Greek yogurt to give them even more twang. But the genius of sticking a peach slice on each pancake to caramelize, well, that’s all Deb. The pancakes are fluffy and sunny-sweet. They’re worth the wait, but you really shouldn’t wait.

Caramelized Peach Pancakes

Makes about eight 4-inch pancakes

1 ripe peach, halved, pitted, and thinly sliced (about 1/8-inch thick slices)
1 large egg
1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon bourbon
2 tablespoons sugar
1?2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1?4 teaspoon kosher salt
1?4 teaspoon cinnamon
3?4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1?2 teaspoon baking soda
Butter for frying

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Emily Vikre