Every now and then, I'm not completely knackered and out for the count come Saturday morning. It doesn't happen often, but on those rare occasions, I like to treat the fam to some homemade pancakes. Not the traditional pancake day crêpes, but the fluffy little thick ones that the US is famous for. 20 minutes to whip up, easier for little hands to snatch, and much easier to jam full of fruit that doesn't fall out if your small person is using cutlery.
I use a recipe adapted from the BBC Good food website and the kids both love to help out with both mixing and eating duties. Just like with this gâteau au yaourt recipe, you can use the same cup to measure everything. I use a regular sized mug.
Ingredients
1.5 mugs self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
0.75 mug milk
2 eggs
3 tbsps melted butter, slightly cooled
2 tbsps honey
seasonal fruit of your choice: we like thinly sliced apple or pear with cinnamon, fresh blueberries, or sliced banana
Method
1. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl
2. In a jug, whisk together milk, eggs and honey, followed by the melted butter.
3. Pour wet into dry and whisk together with a fork. It'll be lumpy at the start, but should become smooth with a bit of elbow grease. Let it stand for a few minutes while you find your nonstick frying pan and put it to warm up over a medium heat.
4. Put a little butter in the pan - you want it to sizzle before you add a small ladle of batter to it, and you can add more than one if your pan is big enough.
5. You should have one or two thick circles bubbling away in the pan. Put a few pieces of fruit on the top and drizzle a little batter over them to seal them in. If there are bubbles all over the batter, it's time to turn the pancakes over and cook the other side until golden brown.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you run out of batter, carefully wiping down the empty pan periodically to get rid of any burnt bits or caramelised fruit. I like to stack them up and keep them covered in foil on a heatproof plate in the over, until the batter is finished.
7. Serve with a little drizzle of maple syrup or warm Nutella - and careful, the cooked fruit can really retain heat so maybe check before you let v small kids loose on them.
Enjoy!