Bobby Flay's Pumpkin-Ricotta Pancakes | Brunch @ Bobby's | Food Network

Okay, let's move on to our pumpkin ricotta pancakes. We're gonna start with 1 1⁄2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of baking soda, 3⁄4 of a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1⁄4 teaspoon of nutmeg, some cloves, and a little bit of ginger. Those are the pumpkin spices, right? The cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Okay, now, for the wet ingredients, we're gonna take a couple of eggs, 1 1⁄2 cups of buttermilk, 3⁄4 cups of ricotta, and a half a cup of pumpkin puree. The thing I like about the ricotta and the pumpkin is it's actually gonna lighten up the pancakes. So we're gonna put a half a cup of pumpkin puree in here. All right, let's just make sure we whisk this up well. So we're just gonna fold the wet into the dry. And like with most batters, I like to let it rest. I just find that when I let batters rest, I get a better result. So we're gonna make a spiced caramel to go on top of the pumpkin ricotta pancakes. And by spiced, I'm really talking about pumpkin-like spices. So we're gonna start with some heavy cream, and then we're gonna throw in a couple cinnamon sticks, half a dozen cloves, whole cloves, some star anise, mmm, and then some fresh ginger. We don't have to take the skin off because we're gonna strain this out anyway, but the ginger's actually gonna give it a really nice kind of spice. I'm also gonna put a splash of apple juice in here as well, about a half a cup. The apple juice will give it a nice sort of fruitiness, a little bit of sweetness. We're gonna let this come to a simmer, cut it down, and let it sit so that all these spices steep into the cream. All right, so let's make some caramel. We're gonna start with one and a half cups of sugar, a half a cup of water, and then a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. The apple cider vinegar is a really nice sort of contrast to the sweetness. You're gonna get lots of sweetness from the sugar and creating a caramel. And also, you'll see that caramel crystallizes a lot. You can hear that sizzle immediately. You want them to have a little bit of a crust, a little golden brown on the outside. All right, remember our spiced cream? Cinnamon and some star anise, the fresh ginger. So we're just gonna pour this right into our caramel. It's gonna bubble up a little bit. Okay, be careful. Beautiful. Just gonna stir this about. And now we have a spiced caramel sauce. Do not put your finger in there. As much as you'd like to taste it, do not do it. It cannot be hotter. I've made that mistake, believe me. So I'm just constantly whisking it to make sure that the caramel and the cream all becomes incorporated. That looks really beautiful. All right, we're just gonna let that sit. Let's check on our pancakes. The spices in the pumpkin, because, you know, they're ground warm spices, they'll actually promote a little bit of golden brown. Okay, so I'm gonna put a little bit of the apple brandy just to splash into the caramel. And we're just gonna let the caramel just cool, just a tiny bit. We're just gonna give it a little more apple flavor. I love the aroma of pumpkin, especially those spices. You know, and pancakes, they're amazing. During the holidays, I have to have something with pumpkin, and so pancakes is a really good way, especially for brunch, to kind of get that going. So we're just gonna take some of our caramel. So beautiful. And apples and caramel, pumpkin, and all those spices just go so well together. Creme fraiche is like cultured sour cream, and so it's gonna have a little tartness to it. So we're just gonna put a little bit of the creme fraiche right on top, and then I'm gonna take a little bit of cinnamon, just finish it off just like that. Never have enough cinnamon, never. Mm. You know, the ricotta really lightens them up, but you have this flavor of all those spices. You have a little bit of that pumpkin in there. I have to say, the star of the whole thing is this beautiful caramel sauce.