Apple and Sausage Sheet-Pan Pancakes

Maple season 2021. The first real running week — the warm days and cold nights lined up in the right sequence, the taps dripping into buckets, the collection runs twice a day and the sugar house warm for the first time since last spring. After everything this year has been, I cannot tell you what it means to stand at the boiler again and watch the steam rise.

This is my seventh solo maple season. Helen was always part of it in the first years — she'd bring lunch down to the sugar house, walk with me on collection rounds, taste the syrup at every stage with an authority I never disputed. In later years when her knees made the walking harder she'd wait at the house and I'd bring samples up. Now it's just me and the trees and the sound of the sap hitting the metal buckets, which is one of the best sounds I know.

I called Sarah after the first boil and described what the syrup looked like, how amber it was running this early in the season, what it tasted like straight from the pan. She said: I miss it up there. I said: come in April. She said: we might be vaccinated by then. The possibility opened up like the light is opening up — slowly, more of it every day.

Made a maple-glazed ham this week, the March meal. Simple enough — scored ham in the Dutch oven, maple syrup and Dijon mustard and a splash of apple cider vinegar as the glaze, low oven for hours. The smell of it fills the house in a way that feels specifically like this time of year, the transition season, winter releasing its grip one degree at a time.

The ham was for me — the March meal, the solitary one. But I’ve been thinking about what I make when Sarah actually comes through that door in April, vaccinated and real and standing in my kitchen for the first time in over a year. These sheet-pan pancakes are it: simple enough that I won’t be fussing over a griddle while we’re trying to talk, apple and sausage already baked right in, and a reason to open a jar of this season’s syrup and set it on the table between us. Helen used to say breakfast was the meal that didn’t require an occasion, and she was right — it’s exactly the kind of thing you make for someone when what you want to say is: I’m just glad you’re here.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 medium apple (Honeycrisp or Fuji), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
8 oz breakfast sausage links or patties, cooked and sliced into bite-sized pieces
Pure maple syrup, for serving

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Generously butter an 18x13-inch rimmed sheet pan and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
Combine the batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
Pour and top. Pour the batter evenly onto the prepared sheet pan, spreading it gently to the edges. Scatter the apple slices and cooked sausage pieces evenly across the top.
Bake. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the pancake is set in the center, golden at the edges, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Slice and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm with real maple syrup poured generously over the top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple and Sausage Sheet-Pan Pancakes — The Maple Season Breakfast I’ll Make When Sarah Finally Visits