Pancakes are not something I make often, but when I do (usually as a treat) I really enjoy them. One of my all time favourite pancake toppings is lemon juice and sugar, but today I thought I would be a bit more adventurous and come up with 3 alternative toppings, seeing as Pancake Day (Tuesday 17 February) is creeping up on us.
Pancake ingredients
2 eggs
150g plain flour
200ml milk
pinch salt
1tsp (heaped) baking powder
butter to cook
So let's get started with making the batter. First, separate the whites of your egg from the yolks in separate bowls. Into the yolks, add the milk, baking powder and flour. Mix into a batter.
Now moving onto the egg whites, add a pinch of salt and then using a whisk (hand or electric), beat the whites until them form stiff peaks. This does take a while, so don't give up. It will eventually start to thicken and go white in colour, just keep going!! This is due to trapping air into the mixture which helps make the pancakes more fluffy.
Now fold the egg whites into the batter. Do this slowly otherwise you will undo all your hard work of whisking the egg whites as the air will escape. Once all mixed, the batter is ready to use.
To cook the pancakes, put approximately 1tsp butter into your frying pan and allow to melt. Add about 2tbsp of mixture per pancake, flattening it out into a circle shape as you add it to the pan. You can cook more than one at a time if the size of your frying pan allows it. They do not take long to cook, flip the pancake after 1-2 minutes on each side. (Cook for as long as it takes to get your pancakes exactly how you like them). It is entirely up to you how high you stack your pancake pile too!
Now let's move on to some toppings.
Ingredients:
Blackberry compote:
approx. 10 blackberries
2tbsp brown sugar
1tsp butter
crème fraiche to serve
Cooked banana:
1 banana
sprinkling of brown sugar
crème fraiche to serve
agave nectar or maple syrup or honey or golden syrup
Raspberries:
approx. 10 raspberries
crème fraiche
agave nectar or maple syrup or honey or golden syrup
Blackberry compote
Add 1tbsp butter into a saucepan, along with 2tbsp brown sugar. Allow to melt whilst stirring thoroughly, and then add in your blackberries. I used about 10. Using the back of a spoon, squeeze the blackberries to encourage their juices to escape. Keep mixing the berries around the pan. The liquid will boil producing huge bubbles.
I prefer not to mush the berries right down, I think it's nice to leave them as whole as possible. Once it is at your desired consistency, remove from the heat. Place a dollop of crème fraiche on top of your pancakes, and then pour over your blackberry compote. Yum.
Cooked banana
Cut your banana in half lengthways. All there is to do for this one is to fry the banana.
If your pan is big enough, you can add this in at the same time as your pancake mixture so it all cooks at once. If not, just use a separate frying pan and add in a little butter. Sprinkle a little brown sugar on the banana, and again on the other side when you flip it. Flip the banana at the same time you flip the pancakes. The cooking time of the banana completely depends on its ripeness. Also, if your banana is quite ripe, it may be hard to flip it without it breaking. This happened with mine, hence it all being in bits - but that doesn't matter. Still tastes as good!
The banana will be golden brown when ready.
To serve, place the banana on top of the pancakes, followed by some crème fraiche. An optional extra is then to squeeze something sweet all over the top. I used agave nectar, which is a natural sweetner. Other options are honey, maple or golden syrup.
Raspberries
This one is a little more simple and doesn't involve any cooking. Simply put some crème fraiche on top of your pancakes, followed by some fresh raspberries. Again, I squeezed some agave nectar all over the top.
And there it is, my 3 different fruit toppings for american pancakes.
There are so many other great toppings for pancakes,both sweet and savoury. I am much more of a sweet pancake gal. In fact, I've never even tried a savoury pancake!
Some other topping ideas:
Ice cream, nutella, butter, maple syrup, lemon and sugar, banana (uncooked), nut butter, any other berry, melted chocolate.
What are you going to have on your pancakes on Tuesday?
Shrove Tuesday - 17 February
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