This isn’t really a vintage recipe but it produces the lightest fluffiest pancakes I’ve had outside the Pancake House in Denver Colorado! The ricotta gives a slightly creamy texture and seems to help the pancake puff up while cooking. Thanks to Chef Andrew from Scattergoods Catering Recruitment Agency for this recipe.
The Best Sunday Pancakes
100g (3 1/2oz) self raising flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
125ml (4 ½ fl.oz) milk
70g (2oz) ricotta
Plus any flavourings of your choice, blueberry and chocolate chip are my favourites - although I prefer them not in the same pancake!
Preheat a frying pan over a medium to high heat.
Put all the ingredients (except the flavourings) together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly - I use a hand whisk and it takes around 20 seconds to get a smooth mixture.
When the frying pan is hot, oil the pan with a few drops of vegetable oil - it’s not really necessary if it’s a non-stick pan, but it helps the pancake not dry out on the surface.
Use a serving spoon to drop the batter, into the frying pan in rounds. I can cook 2 or 3 pancakes at once in my frying pan.
At this point I add my blueberries of chocolate chips to the circles of batter, allowing 6-10 per pancake. I like to push them in slightly with my finger so they get covered with batter (like the top pancake in the photo). This means they don’t run in the heat when I turn the pancake over.
Once the pancake has browned underneath turn it over to cook the other side until golden brown.
Slide the cooked pancakes onto a preheated plate - preferably in a warming oven while you make the rest of the pancakes.
Serve with a generous helping of maple syrup and some crispy bacon. Creme Fraiche is great with fruitier pancakes. With blueberries, lemon curd is a winning combination.
I just got back from a fabulous vacation in an amazing hotel in Antigua. One of the big treats was “pancake of the day” for breakfast, Each day another set of light and fluffy pancakes with fruit or chocolate sprinkled throughout and lashings of maple syrup. With crispy Canadian bacon on the side it was mouthwateringly fantastic.
As I was devouring my favorite chocolate chip and coconut pancakes, I got to wondering if pancakes have changed over the years? I expect that chocolate chips, blueberries and the like didn’t always feature!
Pancakes are not common on restaurant menus in Britain so not all chef jobs require an in depth knowledge of pancakes. I was pleased to discover that my local food guru, Chef Andrew had in fact had long experience in hotel breakfast services during which time he’d perfected his own pancake recipe.
He said that pancakes have indeed changed. Not only in the fillings, but in a professional kitchen he would also separate the eggs for his pancakes and whip up the whites before folding them into the batter. This makes for a much lighter yet thicker looking pancake.
If, however, he was making them at home (or in an expensive hotel) he skipped the egg separating and whisked ricotta cheese into the batter. It makes the pancake extra creamy - and means there’s no need to whip up the egg whites for a lighter pancake. I tried it myself for a Sunday morning treat and I’m certainly not going back to my old fashioned recipe.
For the traditionalist’s, here is an original recipe.
Old Fashioned Pancakes
Ingredients for about 12 small pancakes:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 ¼ cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
Method as per the video below…
The Best Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies
In case you missed the ingredients, here they are:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup shortening
- ⅓ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 (6 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped nuts, optional
recipe from: http://divascancook.com/easy-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe-old-fashioned/
Not all old fashioned food was as good as my grandmother used to make
Bring it on. There’s everything right with the food my grandmother used to make, homely, warming and comforting. The smell of baking on a Monday which used to linger until Wednesday and the sweet treats that were delicious after school snacks for the whole week.
Afternoon tea was not the special treat it is now, it was a daily occurrence. Thin white bread sandwiches which had to be finished before you could eat your cake. Just the thing to keep the wolf from the door until supper time.
Here’s a brilliant old fashioned recipe for chocolate fudge from allrecipes.com
In case you didn’t catch them on the video, the quantities are are:
2 cups sugar
½ cup cocoa powder and
1 cup of milk,
¼ cup of softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.