American Fluffy Pancakes

This might possibly be my favourite recipe I’ve discovered all year. When pancake day rolled around (this article is so late going up!), I realised I had none of the proper ingredients to make the Delia Smith recipe pancakes my mum makes every year. However, I didn’t want to miss out, and armed with a challenge from my friend who is allergic to milk, I set out to make a pancake that required little to nothing being bought, and was free from milk.

What I found was a really simple recipe from BBC Good Food (love ’em), that I have made several times since. It was even more successful than some of my friends’ attempts at classic crepe-style pancakes, made using a pre-made mix.

Here’s the version I use, based on the recipe I found online. This is enough to make 5-6 small but delightful pancakes – enough for a very filling stack for one, or a smaller snack to share between two.

Ingredients:

• 150g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tbsp caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 150ml plant-based milk (both almond and soy have worked for me)
• salt
• butter/oil for frying

Method:

1. Weigh out all of your ingredients. Tip the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, with a pinch of salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg. Then add this to your dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Whilst doing this, add in your golden syrup and the milk, a bit at a time. Keep mixing until the mixture is free of lumps and has some air bubbles. The better you mix, the fluffier your pancakes will be.
3. Heat a splash of oil and a little pat of butter in a frying pan. It will begin sizzling, and will turn kind of brown.
4. Add a small ladle-ful of batter, trying to keep it in a circle shape.
5. Cook until air bubbles form on the surface, resisting the temptation to prod around too much – the butter will help prevent the pancake from burning too much; it’ll be crisp instead.
6. Flip the pancake, and use your spatula to reshape if necessary. Leave until it is no longer stuck. You may wish to give each side a little longer depending on what you like.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all the batter has been used.
8. Serve in a stack, with toppings of your choice. Syrup and berries is always a winning combination in my eyes, but yogurt is pretty tasty too!

SUCH an easy recipe, and in the original spirit of pancakes, you can almost just throw in anything you have in the cupboard with regards to egg, milk, quantities – it won’t vary the outcome too much, but may compromise fluffiness.

The recipe is easily doubled, and I have found the batter keeps well in the fridge for a few days; just make sure to give it a good whisk before you use it again!

This is definitely a recipe not reserved purely for Shrove Tuesday.

Harriet

Costs: from Tesco, around £6.06, if you were to buy all the ingredients from scratch. However, I have always made do with whatever has been in my cupboards, which has meant I’ve never spent a penny on making these beauts!