There’s a little bowl of brown butter sitting on my kitchen worktop as I type. It’s whispering to me just drink one more spoonful …

Funny. I used to think brown butter - beurre noisette - was a little fancy to bother with much. And I was a bit scared of making it. But I got to know its charms again while cooking Licked Spoon’s lovely Brown Butter Caramel Apple Cake. The butter took just a few minutes to make and filled the kitchen with its trademark hazelnut fug. Gorgeous. I’ve been making quite a bit of it since then.

I realised that on previous brown butter outings I’d been loathe to cook the butter long enough, afraid that the brown specks in the bottom of the pan - the milk solids - were starting to burn. Wrong. Brown butter makers must hold their nerve and leave the pan on the heat a little longer than feels completely comfortable, until its contents are a lovely cinnamon colour. It’s a bit like making caramel.

To start, place unsalted butter in a cold pan on a medium heat You need to stir constantly so that all the butter melts before any of it starts to turn brown. (You need to use a light-coloured pan so that you can actually see this happening.) The butter will start to foam, froth and even splutter a little wildly as the water evaporates out of the fat.

Some brown butter makers go about other kitchen business at this point, leaving the butter to cook away on its own. I think the risk of burnt butter is too great to do this. Instead, I loiter at the pan, stirring constantly, as the butter changes colour, adjusting the heat up and down to prevent it burning. After a few minutes the butter will turn the colour of dark honey and particles at the bottom of the pan - those milk solids - will turn almost black. The kitchen will start to smell of hazelnuts. At this point I whip the pan off the heat and pour the deliciousness into a little heatproof bowl to halt the cooking. I strain off and discard the solid bits, but keep them in if you prefer. I then taste the butter to make sure it’s not poisonous. And then I taste it some more. Yes, it so delicious I eat it on its own by the spoonful.

Virtually everything tastes better bathed in brown butter: vegetables, cakes and baked goodies (like this selection from Joy the Baker) and of course fish. Here, I offer you pancakes.

Inspired by a recipe in Bon Appétit Magazine (beautiful, practical, aspirational and newsy, it’s one of my favourite cookery mags), these pancakes are made with finely ground polenta and have a slightly nutty flavour. They’re also little more dense and filling than your standard Sunday morning crêpes, so they make for a substantial and delicious breakfast. Enveloped in brown butter and served with Autumnal apples, caramelized, it’s a dish made in heaven.

Polenta crêpes with brown butter and cinnamon apples

Makes: 8 x 10cm crêpes

• 1 egg
• 125ml milk
• 30g plain flour
• 40g finely ground polenta
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling (optional)
• a pinch of fine sea salt
• 60ml double cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra to cook the pancakes
• 4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 4 tablespoons soft light brown sugar
• a pinch of cinnamon, or more to taste
• warm brown butter (made with 50g butter)
• yoghurt, to serve (optional)

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, flour, polenta, caster sugar, salt, cream and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until smooth.

In a 10cm frying pan, heat a little butter, wiping out any excess with kitchen roll. Pour in a small ladleful of batter, swirl to coat, and cook over a medium heat until the top of the crêpe begins to look cooked and the bottom has started to develop golden patches. Flip with a spatula or palette knife and cook for about 1 minute more. Repeat, transfer to a plate, cover with foil and transfer to a low oven to keep warm.

Heat the 2 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan, add the apples, soft light brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining vanilla, and toss over a medium heat until tender and golden. You don’t want the apples swimming in butter as you’ll be spooning over brown butter to serve; just keep turning the apples so they caramelize without burning, adding a splash or two of water if the pan becomes too dry.

Serve the pancakes with the apples, a generous drizzle of brown butter and some greek yoghurt if you like. If you’re a piggy wig like I am, finish with a sprinkling of sugar.