Pancakes with Apples and Cranberries

Pancakes! Who doesn’t love them? Amazing for breakfast or brunch with honey, maple syrup or jam, pancakes are the real crowd pleaser. Want in on a secret? In our family we eat pancakes not only for breakfast, but also in the evening, after dinner, with a steaming cup of tea and sometimes, they are dinner :)  Like the idea of eating breakfast for dinner? Here is the fast and tasty recipe of our homemade Pancakes (“oladi” in Russian) with apples and dried cranberries. You will be surprised how easy they are to make, delicious, light, and fluffy homemade pancakes from scratch. 

Ingredients

1 egg
1 cup self-rising flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 apple
½ cup cranberries
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 cup milk
Oil for frying 
Butter for frying (optional)

Directions

Place dried cranberries in a small bowl or a cup and cover with hot water. Let it soak for about 15 minutes. 
Clean, peel and core the apple. Chop it to small cubes.

Beat egg with sugar with whisker or fork to dissolve the sugar as much as possible.
Add half of milk to the egg mixture, mix and start gradually adding the flour, mixing well after each addition until the batter is smooth. Add the remaining milk.
If you still have some small lumps, don’t worry. You can pass the pancake butter through a mesh colander.
Add cinnamon and let the butter rest for about 10 minutes in a room temperature.  

Drain and squeeze out water from cranberries.
Add apples and cranberries to the pancake butter and mix. 
Now, let’s just take one step back. There two different ways to go about the fruits. You can pour the butter on the frying pan and then top with apples and cranberries (I tried it and although the shape of the pancakes is nicer and more round, the fruits on one side are not covered with butter and get a bit crispy). I also tried to add the fruits to the butter, mix and then spoon it on the frying pan. This way the shape is still good, but all the fruits are inside the pancake, soft. I, personally, like it better and from now on will mix the fruits and butter before the frying.  
Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Some people prefer to use butter instead, but I find it burns easier than oil. You can use the combination of both. This way you will have a taste of butter, but it won’t burn because it is mixed with oil.
Depends on the size of the pancakes you like, pour about ¼ cup of butter into a hot pan and spread the fruits evenly with spoon if needed.
When bubbles appear on surface and the frying side is a nice golden color, turn the pancakes over and cook the other side.

Repeat with remaining butter. 
Serve them warm, decorated with powdered sugar or honey, and a cup of hot tea.