Boston Cream Pancakes + iPhoneography

It’s been forever since I last posted, so I’m long overdue for some life updates and serious recipes. I’ll start with a recipe because pancakes. (Life stuff soon though because soo much exciting stuff has been going on!!)

Anyhoo, if you follow me on Steller or Instagram, you may have seen these decadent little things already. If not, I hope you’re in the mood for some intense spring brunching and a recipe that takes pancakes to a WHOLE new level.

I was playing in the kitchen one day and decided to take a stab at making a real Boston Cream Pie. I did, and it was goooood. I was expecting it to be pie, but it was actually a cake! A two-layer cake with a slathering of vanilla custard in the middle, topped with chocolate glaze. Wonder of wonders.

Boston Cream Doughnuts were a childhood favorite of mine, so now that I had experienced (and loved) Boston Cream Pie too, I wanted to experiment and make a Boston Cream Something-Else. Pancakes seemed like a perfect candidate because I could layer them just like the “pie” and use a chocolate sauce instead of syrup! The result was a raving success.

If you’re a springtime brunch-er, give these a try. Or if you’re just a lover of breakfast and all things vanilla’d, chocolatey and cake-y…OR if you just want these pancakes on the table ASAP. Recipe and detailed instructions are at the bottom!

But before the deliciousness, this is the first recipe I’m posting on the blog that was photographed 100% with my iPhone 6. I’m a tad obsessed with iPhone photography (aka, “iPhoneography”). It’s so easy to take snaps during the cooking process, and so much faster to snag those end shots before all the hungry taste testers turn on you. Let me know what you think of the look!

Check the bottom of this post for a list of the apps I use for editing!

Lastly, because I got a Plus, I’m selling my regular 6 (the one I used to photograph this post)! E-mail me if you’re interested in buying it! [email protected]

FOR THE CREAM

1 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped and set aside
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

MAKE THE CREAM

I suggest you make the cream the night before!

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan.

Add yolks and whisk until smooth.

Stir in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, about 10
minutes.

Remove from heat and add butter one cube at a time, whisking until smooth.

Stir in vanilla extract.

Transfer pudding to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; chill at least 2 hours, until firm.

MAKE THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Put the chocolate chips into a medium glass bowl and set aside.

Pour heavy cream into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

Set the sauce aside and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

MAKE THE PANCAKES

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Stir until just combined, but still lumpy!

Stir in the melted butter.

Scoop onto a buttered griddle with a 1/4 cup measure and cook until bubbles rise through the batter and the edges of the pancakes are light golden brown. Flip and cook until the bottoms are lightly browned.

ASSEMBLE THE “PIES”

Spread a thick layer of cream over one of the

pancakes, then sandwich it with another pancake and spoon a generous amount of chocolate sauce on top.

Serve with hot coffee right away! QUICK!!

Apps I use for editing my iPhone photos:

VSCO Cam – for great filters and manual edits
Snapseed – for manual edits while preserving image quality
TouchRetouch – for spot removal
ArtStudio – for distorting image perspective to straighten lines