Birthday Pancakes... Sort of

Today was LBS's birthday. I got up and made her our favourite pancakes, with whipped cream, banana and home-made pancake syrup.

Unfortunately for her, LBS lives in Canada, no less then 20 hours flying distant, so she missed out. But as they say, it's the thought that counts. She can be assured that her Birthday Pancakes were very much enjoyed by Isaac, Dessert Chef C and myself.I increased the recipe this time, using 4 eggs, 150g of self-raising flour and 190mls of milk, and I had to go hunting for a recipe for pancake syrup as we used the last of ours a week or so ago and haven't replenished the stocks. This is the recipe I used. It came out a bit crystally, but I think that if it was to cook for longer those crystals would break down and it would be smoother. The recipe I used as a basis called for Corn Syrup, which we didn't have, so that would probably have made it a lot smoother too.

Pancake Syrup

In a small pan, melt 25g of butter. Add 1/4C of brown sugar, 1/4C of white sugar and 1/4C of water. Heat to a brisk simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and stir constantly to thicken. Serve warm over pancakes or icecream.

Searching for Breakfast Inspiration

It was a rather uninspired week on the cooking front. Between family being sick and myself being focused on revising the second draft of my novel, this blog has been a bit, shall we say, underfed. We had a few repeats of earlier meals, as well a few simple things like bacon and egg sandwiches, and leftover pizza from the freezer with fresh veges.

Last night we had alfredo with bacon instead of chicken, which deserves mention. Just cook up the sauce and pasta as per instruction, and fry up 4 sliced rashers of bacon, one chopped onion and a couple of sliced garlic cloves. We had carrot sticks and tomato wedges with it, and it was good.


But today I want to focus on some real rainy Sunday morning comfort food, because today its really, REALLY raining. What better to have on a write-off rainy weekend morning than big, fluffy pancakes? If it hadn't been raining so hard, I would've even made it out to the tree for a lemon, but as it was, we managed with cream, banana, and syrup, as well as fresh, hot coffee. Mmmm.

Fluffy Pancakes (like them Americans make)

115g Flour
1 heaped t Baking Powder
140ml Milk
3 Large Free Range Eggs
1 pinch salt

Separate Eggs. Mix the yolks, flour, baking powder and milk up to a smooth batter.

Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then gently fold the whites into the batter with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix, or the air will all be forced out of the batter and you won't have fluffy pancakes.

Melt some butter in a pan (I do two small pans at once) and place a 1/2 cup of batter in the pan to cook. When the underside is golden brown, flip the pancake and cook through. Serve with syrup, cream, jam, lemon juice, peanut butter, banana, or whatever you like.


This recipe makes about 7 pancakes, which used to be enough for us but is a bit light now, so increase the recipe accordingly if you feel you've been shortchanged.