Brown Butter Is The Key To Oatmeal Pancakes That Actually Taste Good

If you're looking for a go-to winter pancake recipe (and there are lots of ways to improve your pancake game), start by including oatmeal in the batter. The results will be fluffy, hearty, and have an exquisite, oaty nuttiness. And if this idea sounds appealing, there's another trick that will go a long way toward perfecting your oatmeal pancake recipe: Instead of simply melting your butter, brown it.

Brown butter and oats are a match made in heaven. Extending the depth and dimension of the oatmeal's nuttiness, brown butter's elegant sweetness will provide a perfect complement and foil for a batter containing powdered oats. Fans of oatmeal will already tell you that oats love adjuncts that bring an aromatic, deep sweetness — maple syrup, for instance, or brown sugar. Brown butter, when combined with a little sugar in the pancake batter, fits this brief beautifully. The fact is that brown butter is a veritable secret weapon when it comes to making almost every dish better, whether savory or sweet — so let oatmeal pancakes be the gateway to culinary bliss.

If you've never entered the wonderful world of browning or clarifying butter, you're in for a treat. Brown butter is quite an easy thing to make — especially considering what you get in return: A deep, nutty aroma and flavor (there's a reason why the French call it beurre noisette, or "hazelnut butter") as well as a voluptuously smooth texture. You'll need nothing more than a stick of butter, a saucepan, and a spoon. Over heat, melt sweet butter until it creates a fine-bubbled foam. When that subsides, you'll see little bits of browned milk solids separate and fall to the bottom.

The only difference between using brown butter instead of regular butter when making pancakes is simply leaving the stuff on heat a little longer: Instead of simply melting the butter, you brown it. When the butter is added to the batter, nothing changes — it goes in with the other wet ingredients once the dry ingredients have been assembled. Easy peasy.

If you're down to brown, consider toasting the oats as well — whether quick-cooking, rolled, or steel cut. As you might imagine, this will further deepen and refine their flavor, bringing out a lightly caramelized sweetness to boot. Just be sure to keep these two browning processes separate. Brown the butter in a saucepan and set aside; then toast the oats in a separate, dry skillet. (Combining the two in a blender will ultimately result in a brick-like material better suited for building projects). This hearty pancake batter can be further rounded out with aromatic baking spices like nutmeg and cinnamon.

When serving your brown butter-oatmeal pancakes, stick with pats of regular melted sweet butter as a garnish (if that's the direction you'd like to go). Beyond that, maple syrup is a particularly good choice, as are blueberries, strawberries, a dollop of yogurt, or a drizzle of honey. You know how you like to decorate your pancakes; don't feel constrained by the presence of oats and brown butter.