Show Us Your Life: Denver, CO & Pineapple Upside Pancakes

A and I took Lily on her first plane ride back in March for a little visit to Denver, CO. A's brother moved there recently, and we thought we'd visit him and his sweet girlfriend while taking a fun vacation. It was wonderful! LOVE me some Denver.

The city reminded me a lot of Austin, down to the Green Peace activists on the street corners. Our favorite spots were the Denver Zoo, where Lily got to see her first real life giraffe up close and personal, okay, maybe I was more excited about this than she was....

Lily with Denver (her littler souvenir)

The 16th Street Mall. A huge outdoor mall that had about every national store you could hope for...

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then we randomly found a little street called Pearl Street in Washington Park and it have some cute boho charm to it. Of course I didn't take any pictures...
and last but definitely not least, Snooze.

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It's hands down the BEST breakfast place I have ever been to. And their Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes are something out of a pregnant woman's dreams. They. are. heavenly. One part breakfast, one part dessert, all parts delicious!

A makes a mean pancake, and since he knew how much I loved the Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes from Snooze, he tracked down their recipe online and got up extra early on Sunday to make them from scratch for me for Mother's Day. Is that love or what?!

They turned out fantastic! Snooze's buttermilk pancake recipe is a secret, but A used this one and said it worked great! He used Snooze's recipe found here for everything else. Here's how he combined the two recipes:

A's Mother's Day Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes
This recipe is for 12 servings
Ingredients for Pancakes:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

Ingredients for Everything Else:

• 1/2 fresh pineapple, skinned, cored and chopped into small chunks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
   
• Cinnamon Butter:
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  
  Vanilla Crème:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Steps:

Cinnamon Butter: Place the stick of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar in a food processor. Purée until combined and smooth; place in a small glass dish and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Vanilla Crème: In a saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in the heavy cream, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and the vanilla extract. Heat to boiling.Turn down heat and continue to slowly simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Remove from heat and pour into a small pitcher to use for serving. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve.

Pancakes:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter.
2. Keep the two mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. You can flick water across the surface and if it beads up and sizzles, it's ready!
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. 
5. Ladle about ½ cup batter onto hot griddle and sprinkle a heaping tablespoon or so of pineapple chunks onto the cooking pancake.
6. When pancake is ready to be flipped, sprinkle a dash or two of granulated sugar onto the pineapple and then turn; this will caramelize the pineapple side.
7. Place finished pancake on a plate in a warm oven and repeat process until all batter is gone.
8. Stack two pancakes and serve with a dollop of cinnamon butter on top and the vanilla crème on the side.
   
   Here's all that was left...