American Pancakes

Please excuse my dodgy photography!

Pancakes are a staple in this house. They are the breakfast of choice on a Sunday morning and if the children return from school 'absolutely starving' - as children often are - I'll make them for afternoon tea.

Served with blueberries, raspberries or simply maple syrup and butter - These pancakes are divine. They take a matter of minutes to prepare with the most basic of pantry ingredients. They are fluffy and light and delicious.

Ingredients;

3 large eggs
1 cup sifted plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
140mls milk
2 tbsps caster sugar (if you would prefer savoury pancakes, leave the sugar out)
Pinch of salt
A few teaspoons of butter for cooking

Separate the three eggs; yolks into one bowl, whites into another. In the bowl with the yolks add the flour, baking powder, sugar and milk and whisk until you have a thick batter.
Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric beater until stiff peaks form.
Fold the whites gently into the batter - the batter should look quite foamy - don't be put off by this, I promise these pancakes will be perfect!

Heat a fry pan on a reasonably high temperature (med/high) and melt the butter. Pour in the batter, either making large or small pancakes - whichever you prefer (I tend to make smaller ones as they are easier to handle) once bubbles start to come to the surface flip the cake and cook for a minute on the other side. Continue to do this until all of your batter is used. Serve warm with lashings of maple syrup, berries or even ice cream for dessert!

Brown Sugar & Walnut Biscuits

I made these on Sunday afternoon and they were a huge hit. The kids, Hubby and I sat out in the sun with a pot of tea and devoured nearly the whole batch in one sitting.
Despite being deceptively simple they are also lovely, light, crispy and very yummy.

Feel free to substitute the walnuts with almonds or pecans....whatever takes your fancy really.

Ingredients;
1 Cup walnuts (plus extra for decorating)
3/4 Cup brown sugar, firmly packed.
1 Cup (250grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 Cups plain flour

Preheat the oven to 120C. Grease and line two cookie sheets.

In a food processor, process 1 cup of walnuts until coarsely chopped. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar and process until you have a fine crumbed texture. Set aside.

Combine the butter, the remaining sugar, the vanilla and the salt in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to mix until light and fluffy. Add the flour and nut mixture and beat until just incorporated.

Scoop up spoonfuls of dough and then roll them into balls. Arrange the balls onto the cookie sheets, making sure to leave about 4 Cm's between each ball. Press a piece of walnut into the centre of each biscuit.

Bake until the biscuits are lovely and brown around the edges. This should take around 20 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Lovely as a treat for morning tea, afternoon tea....or anytime for that matter!