Pigs in a Blanket Breakfast Bake

A few weeks ago I was craving pigs in a blanket - perhaps craving isn't the right word. I'm pretty sure sausages in buttermilk pancakes were dancing through my dreams. Hey, there are worse things I could be obsessing about, right?

I told Joe the grand vision I had for a brunch pancake bake: apples, breakfast sausages, pancake batter, syrup. He came up with this recipe for Mother's Day brunch - basically it's an upside-down buttermilk cake with caramelized apples and savory sausage. My gosh, this is so amazingly good that I want this for breakfast every day!

Next, I'm going to challenge my master chef to make these into on-the-go breakfast muffins. We used a pie pan, so he actually has a bit of buttermilk pancake batter left over for him to experiment with. We're also going to serve this when all our family is in town for First Born's college graduation in June. Are you hungry, family?

P.S. I'm sure this works well with boxed pancake mix as well, if you want to save a minute or two in stirring together the dry ingredients. We've never made from-scratch buttermilk pancakes though, and Joe says he's never going back to something like Bisquick!

Ingredients

For the Batter
2  cups flour
1  tsp baking soda
2  tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2  eggs, beaten
2  cups buttermilk
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

For the Casserole

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter 

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 large apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 package turkey sausage links cut into 1/2" pieces (we really love fully-cooked Bob Evans breakfast sausage)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil a 9x13 pan or a large pie pan. If you use the pie pan, you will have some pancake batter left over for later!

Stir together the dry batter ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the wet ingredients, then beat in the flour mixture until smooth and well combined. Set aside. (Note: you can make this a day or two earlier and keep it in the fridge - whip it well before using.)

Place the brown sugar, butter, and syrup in a small saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Let cool.

Arrange the apple slices in the bottom of the pan and pour the syrup over them. If the sausage is not precooked, brown the pieces in a skillet. Sprinkle the sausage pieces over the apples. Pour the pancake batter on top. 

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Tip the pan over onto a platter and cut into squares or wedges as you prefer.

Serves 4-6.