Pancakes with Red Wine Peaches

I looooove pancakes!

This little plate of heaven is all from improvising in the kitchen! There's something so exciting about starting to cook and having no idea what will come out of it. One day, I woke up at my usual weekday alarm time on my day off. What do you do when that happens? Make pancakes. Always make pancakes if you're up early on a day off. Why? Because by the time they are done it's a decent hour and pancakes are a classic weekend breakfast food. Queue the nostalgia.

Now that's a way to start the weekend! Pancakes are great because they are so versatile, a canvas for flavour creativity. So how did I go from innocent fluffy stacks to drinking wine before 9am? Here's a vague outline of my thought process during my improvisation:

I had some gluten-free multipurpose mix that I had bought at Winners (winning!) so I started with that. I usually like to have some sort of fruit with my pancakes, and I had a big bucket of Ontario peaches on the counter screaming my name. So I start chopping up peaches while the pancakes are cooking.

.... Wouldn't it be amazing if I grilled the peach slices? Mmmm.... George Foreman grill? Nah, it would be better if they were cooked in some sort of syrup. Oh look, leftover wine from last night on the table. Maybe I should put that away. Wait.... What if I cooked the peaches in it! Red wine for breakfast? Teehee! It would be good with balsamic vinegar, right? Yeah! I still have some fancy Cinnamon-Pear balsamic vinegar left from Adoro's. Hurry up and cook, pancakes! I'm too excited to start the peaches!

Ok so, water in the pan to start I guess... Big splash of red wine, splash of balsamic vinegar, add peaches. And we wait. Watching the peaches sizzle in the simmering wine. Watching the steam and alcoholic content disappear (unfortunately) into the fan.... Uhhh how long do I cook them? Oh there's almost no liquid left. I guess I should check the texture. The texture is good but sugar would probably thicken the liquid a bit. Shake up the pan and, perfect!

Pretending to be on a food network show, I'm placing peaches one by one on the pancakes.... Screw it, let's dump them all on there! .... It's missing something. Sprinkle of cinnamon, there! Now time for pictures.

There you have it. A quick tidbit of the insanity going on in my head when I improvise. It's kinda fun, right? Now go make your own drunken pancakes - here's the recipe.

Pancakes with Red Wine Peaches

Ingredients for pancakes:
- 1 cup Better Batter gluten-free pancake & biscuit mix
- 1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer powder
- 1 cup Unsweetened soy milk (vanilla or original soy milk flavours would work here too)

Ingredients for Red Wine Peaches:
- 2 peaches
- Splash of water
- 1/2 cup red wine (I used Giacondi Sangiovese Merlot)
- Splash of balsamic vinegar (I used the Cinnamon-Pear infusion from Adoro's)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Sprinkle of cinnamon for the finishing touch

Directions:
Place the pancake mix and dry egg replacer in a bowl and mix well. Mix in soy milk until it forms a batter. Fry up pancakes with a bit of oil (feel free to make them in different shapes and sizes) until they are golden on each side. Set aside, preferably in a warm oven until the peaches are done.
Cut peaches into about 1/4-1/3 inch thick slices. Make sure they are all somewhat even, because they will cook evenly if they are all about the same thickness.

Add a bit of water, the wine and the balsamic vinegar to the pan and stir it up a bit. Place the peaches in it cut side down and cook for about 5-7 minutes. Flip when the cooked side has absorbed some of the mixture (the peaches have some red tint to the edges and creases). Cook another 5-7 minutes until he peaches are cooked through and there is not much liquid left. Add the sugar and toss the peaches around until it is fully dissolved.

Remove from heat and serve on pancakes, topped with a bit of cinnamon. Enjoy!