I have been meaning to post about these for ages but have often missed the opportunity to photograph them so today I made the effort to snap a shot before I devoured them. Every weekend I have the boys here I make them either pancakes or crepes for breakfast. These are Harry's current favourite although I do make pretty good crepes too (if I don say so myself). I think Harry likes the story I told him about when I was in the States and how the pancakes you get there are stacked really high and are the size of a dinner plate....I mean who can eat that amount of food! He often asks for a stack of three (and no they are NOT as big as a dinner plate!), but never manages to get through them as they are very filling. This was my breakfast with a two-stack of pancakes topped with some proper maple syrup, some fresh strawberries and some yummy yoghurt. Needless to say I am pretty full! But I really wanted to opportunity to share the pancake love and give you this fantastic recipe because it makes the most delicious, light and fluffy pancakes you will EVER have. No need anymore to go out for breakfast if all you order is pancakes...not now that I have given you this recipe, as all you will be is disappointed knowing you can make these at home yourself for a fraction of the cost!
Fluffy American-Style Pancakes
1 3/4 c flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c milk
2 eggs
3 Tbsp (about 45g) butter, melted
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl and give it a whisk around (saves you from sifting it). Mix in the eggs and milk, then once that is mixed around add the butter and whisk until you get a nice smooth batter.
Heat a pan over a moderate heat, spray with oil or else put in a little bit of butter and cook the first side until bubbles start to appear. Then flip and finish cooking on the other side.
Stack onto a heated plate. These are also fantastic with Lemon Curd (preferably homemade).
We love homemade granola in our house. My boys are notorious breakfast (or should I say non breakfast) eaters and I always have to make them eat in the morning. I know how important it is that they eat something before they go off to school but the battle does get rather tedious. However I find that if I have homemade granola in the house they are more than likely to eat some with some nice yoghurt with pretty much no effort on my part. As well as that they will eat it when they get home from school or after dinner if they are still hungry. The good thing about it is that I know what is in it, that it is relatively healthy and will last the distance as far an energy goes. Over the years I have tried many recipes but this one I made today is really delicious. It has just the right amount of sweetness and doesn't have a dominating flavour. It's a mix of a few recipes with my own bits in it so therefore I think I can safely call it my own. Of course you can put whatever you like in it but I like this combination. So here's my recipe:
Homemade Granola
5 c jumbo oats
1 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c sesame seeds
1/4-1/2 c bran flakes
1/4 c flax seeds
1 1/2 c almonds some roughly chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c honey
3/4 c apple sauce
2 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 c raisins
1/2 c dried cranberries (sometimes I add in chopped up dried figs and/or apricots)
1/2-1 c coconut flakes
Oven to 150 C.
Put the oats, seeds, cinnamon, bran flakes, nuts onto a big low sided roasting dish. Mix well.
In a small pot warm the brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, vanilla and apple sauce until the sugar dissolves (this hardly takes any time at all as you don't want it to boil)
Pour over the oat mix and stir in well so all the oats are moistened.
Bake about 1 hour stirring every 10 mins until it is golden and losing the wetness. Add in the coconut for the last 5 mins. The granola will crisp up on sitting.
Add in the dried fruit and wait until it's really cold before you store it away.
