Let us turn you onto something…
This is a Sunday morning delicacy. An autumn weekend treat. A drink to curl up with by the fire on a foggy, grey day.
We aren’t big fans of the classic Pumpkin Spice Latte. But a maple latte? Sign us up. We love adding maple syrup to our coffee no matter the time of year, but it just tastes better in the fall. We recently started adding a sprinkle of sea salt on top of our maple lattes, making it a salted maple latte. Delicious. “It tastes like a pancake!” we would say.
But the other day, we realized that this salted maple latte was, in fact, missing the most critical and mouth-watering part of a pancake—the butter. But, not just any old butter. Browned butter. So, we experimented and taste-tested for you all, and we have come out with something we like to call… The Pancake Latte. It is sweet and salty with hits of maple and a soft caramel undertone from the browned butter. The silky frothed milk makes it fluffy—like a pancake.
Here’s how you make it.
Take a tablespoon of butter (salted or unsalted) and brown it in a pan on the stove (medium heat). Stir occasionally but make sure to keep your eye on it, because you do not want to burn it. You will know that it’s ready when you see a brown/golden undertone of the butter (should just take a few minutes). Take off the heat.
Slowly pour the browned butter into a small cup. Important! Pour slowly so that only the top, more oily layer of the butter comes out. You want to keep those brown bits in the pan, because that’s what you will be adding to your coffee mug. You can save or discard the oily melted butter that is in the cup.
Grab your coffee mug and pour the browned butter bits from the pan in. Make your espresso, pour into the mug, and stir with a whisk or spoon to fully integrate the butter with the espresso. Add a dash or two of maple syrup (depends on how sweet you like your coffee).
Froth the milk of your choice and pour into your mug. Add a sprinkle of sea salt on top. Sip and enjoy!
Those pancakes…again…with gobs of butter! Torture!!!! Love your writing and photos of our stunning PNW in autumn.
This sounds amazing! Pumpkin spice lattes are a little too much for me but I do love a drop of maple syrup in my coffee in the autumn months, so I will have to try this variation!