Pancake Day

James loves a Pancake on Shrove Tuesday and so I left it to him. I could always take or leave it. Well the boy did good! But when cooking for 2 girls pudding for dinner is always going to get a thumbs up!

As I stumbled to the shower that morning I could hear James beating the batter downstairs and then placing in the fridge to chill during the day. Maybe that was the trick because they were AWESOME! Izzy loved them too and scoffed down 2 spread with fromage frais and kiwifruit sauce. I stuck with the classic lemon & sugar combo.

James was the Master pancake maker – not one duff flip and perfect results!

Next year I am definitely going to take more of an interest and try out some savoury fillings. I was inspired by Louise’s entry – looks absolutely delicious and a fab idea for a get together!

Crepes (courtesy of Stephanie Alexander – The Cook’s Companion)

Ingredients:-

30g butter

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups of milk

150g plain flour

2 eggs

Warm butter, salt and milk until butter has melted. Put flour into a basin and make a well in flour. Break eggs into well and work in some flour. Add warm milk mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cooking. The consistency should be like thin cream. If not, thin with more milk.

Heat a frying pan (preferably one designed for cooking pancakes). Wipe pan with a piece of buttered paper for the first pancake . Lift pan from heat, then ladle in batter and swirl to spread it to edges of pan. Set pan back over heat. After 1 minute, lift thin outer edge of pancake with a fine spatula and flip pancake using your fingers or spatula. When cooked, transfer to a plate in a low oven to keep warm. repeat process.

Will make 8-10 thin, lacy pancakes or crepes 20cm in diameter. Stack the pancakes one on top of the other when cold and wrap them in plastic film. They will keep overnight in the refrigerator if they are not needed straightaway. The batter will also keep overnight in a covered container. Just stir any risen butter back into the batter and bring the batter to room temperature before using.

Flipper Extraordinaire!!

Delissimo!

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Sunday brekkie

Morning,

Izzy & I were up at the crack of dawn this morning and so I decided on pancakes for breakfast as Izzy had asked for them yesterday. Odd as I have made them a couple of times and she has not been that fussed. I have tried a couple of recipes and they turned out fine but nothing special. Today I opted for ‘Happy Days with the Naked Chef’ – when in doubt, turn to Jamie.

At first I thought I had missed something as seemed unusual to fold in the egg white to a pancake mixture and instead of pouring the mixture onto the griddle it was dolloped on. But, they turned out delicious – really light and fluffy and Izzy scoffed 2. I made some apple puree to go with them but she was not fussed on that at all. Instead for the first time she took to maple syrup.

I also whipped up some lemon cupcakes to take to Seb’s for a play date today. I am addicted to the ‘Hummingbird Bakery’ book – it is amazing and has without a doubt produced the best cupcakes to date! I am aiming to make all the different cupcake recipes in there over the next few months.  Need to bake Blueberry muffins today too as promised I would take some into work. Bought the giant muffin tray yesterday so will make them super sized American style.

Need to head off to Sainsbury’s to do the groceries as need the ingredients before I can ice the cupcakes. One thing I really hate about cooking is writing the shopping lists and going through the cupboard trying to figure out what we have or don’t have. Gggrrr…….

The Recipe for today then…..

Pancakes (courtesy of Jamie Oliver ‘Happy Days with the Naked Chef’)

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

115g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

140ml milk

Pinch of salt

Separate the eggs, putting the whites into one bowl and the yolks into another. Add the flour, baking powder and milk to the yolks and mix to a smooth thick batter. Whisk the whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks. Fold into the batter – it is now ready to use.

Heat a good non-stick pan on a medium heat. Pour some of your batter into the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until it starts to look golden and firm. Continue frying until both sides are golden. If you want to add a topping on the uncooked side before flipping it over or sprinkle over at the end.

So I am going to sign off and leave you with a pic of Izzy enjoying her pancakes – yum!!

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