Apple Oatmeal Pancakes

Hot July. The pool is at full capacity almost every day. I have started bringing my case study notes to read during the adult swim breaks — the fifteen-minute mandatory rest period every hour where no one is in the water and I can sit in the shade and read without actually being off duty. The lifeguard chair has become something of an office. The other guards think I am strange. I think I am efficient.

Babcia Rose called this week to ask if I was coming to Sunday dinner. I always come to Sunday dinner but she calls every week anyway, which is how Babcia Rose stays in the world — through food and check-ins, in that order. She made potato pancakes this week — placki ziemniaczane — with applesauce and sour cream. The pancakes are crispy and thin and they take forever because you shred raw potatoes and squeeze out all the water and add egg and flour and then stand at the stove and fry them one at a time. They cannot be rushed. Babcia Rose does not rush them.

I asked her to teach me how to make them. She said "You watch." So I watched. She shreds the potatoes on a box grater, the old metal one she has had forever, and squeezes the water out in her hands — her hands are very strong for 87, worker's hands, the hands of a person who has been cooking since before the war. She adds the egg and salt and just enough flour to hold them together. Nothing measured.

I asked how much flour. She said "Enough." I wrote down "enough" in my notebook and drew a small star next to it. I am building a translation key — Babcia Rose to actual measurements. It will take years. I have years. Or I think I do, and this thought, brief and uninvited, made me eat three more potato pancakes than I needed to, which turned out to be exactly the right amount.

I’m still years away from cracking Babcia Rose’s translation key — "enough" flour remains officially unmeasured — but watching her stand at that stove without rushing taught me something about what pancakes are supposed to feel like: unhurried, a little crispy at the edges, served with applesauce on the side because that’s just how it’s done. These apple oatmeal pancakes aren’t placki ziemniaczane, but they carry the same spirit: a batter that comes together simply, fruit woven in rather than afterthought, and nothing that benefits from being made in a hurry.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4 (about 12 pancakes)

Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for the pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium apple, peeled and finely grated (about 3/4 cup)
Applesauce and sour cream, for serving

Instructions

Soak the oats. Combine the rolled oats and buttermilk in a medium bowl and let sit for 5 minutes so the oats soften slightly and absorb some liquid.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Combine wet ingredients. Add the applesauce, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla to the oat-buttermilk mixture and stir to combine.
Fold together. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — a few lumps are fine. Fold in the grated apple. Do not overmix.
Heat the pan. Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a small pat of butter and let it melt and foam.
Cook the pancakes. Pour about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the skillet. Cook until bubbles form across the surface and the edges look set, about 2—3 minutes. Flip and cook another 1—2 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to the pan as needed.
Serve. Stack and serve warm with applesauce and a dollop of sour cream alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple Oatmeal Pancakes — The Version I Make When I’m Still Learning Babcia’s