Batter up! Crêpes, pancakes or pikelets?

Personally I heart them all – being the batter-loving-hussy I am…

And if you’re the same, then … boy oh boy, do I have some fantastic recipes for you!

These 3 recipes have been on high-rotation at the Too Yum household for some months now, and once you’ve tried them you’ll know exactly why.

Bet my bottom dollar you’ll love love love them.

Cross my heart you’ll never want to eat another shake ‘n’ pour pancake again.

That’s not to say you won’t, because I know you will – you lazy sods, but as you do your taste buds will be daydreaming about these yummy creations.

But don’t thank me, thank Amanda and Debbie from Exclusively Food.

It really is a crying  shame that these two Aussies don’t yet have a cookbook to their names.

They are positively gifted when it comes to creating delicious, easy and wholesome recipes that yield wonderful results every time.

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POSSIBLY THE GREATEST EVER HOMEMADE PANCAKES:

These pancakes are light, fluffy and tender. We like to serve them with butter and golden syrup or berry compote and whipped cream. The recipe specifies full cream milk because we felt it gave a better result than reduced fat milk.

• 375ml (1 1/2 cups) full cream milk
• 2 teaspoons (10mls) lemon juice
• 35g (2 tablespoons) sugar
• 225g (1 1/2 cups) self raising flour
  
• 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
• 1 large egg (we use a minimum weight of 59g)
• 30g (1 1/2 tablespoons) butter, melted
• Melted or softened butter, for greasing the pan

Place milk, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir to combine, and then set aside for five minutes. During this time the mixture may develop a slightly curdled appearance.

Stir or whisk self-raising flour and bicarbonate of soda together in a large bowl until combined.

Add egg and melted butter to the milk mixture. Whisk the mixture until the egg has combined with the milk (the butter will probably just float on the surface).

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until almost smooth: the batter should still have a few small lumps. Don’t over mix the batter as this may make the pancakes tough.

Leave batter to stand while the pan is preheating (at least two minutes).

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, lightly grease it with butter.

Briefly stir batter in case the ingredients have settled during the resting time. Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan and use the back of a spoon to spread the batter out to form an 11cm diameter circle.

Repeat to make another one or more pancakes, depending on the size of your frying pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan as this will make turning the pancakes difficult.

Cook pancakes on the first side until small bubbles appear and burst on the top surface, about 1-2 minutes. Turn pancakes over with a spatula. Cook until the second side is lightly browned and the pancakes are cooked through (about another 1-2 minutes).

Serve pancakes immediately, or stack and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm while cooking remaining batter.

Lightly grease pan before cooking the next batch of pancakes. You may need to reduce the heat after cooking a few pancakes because the pan may get hotter over time.

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NOTES FROM TOO YUM:

The genius of this recipe is that it can handle small variations and still come out perfectly every time. I’ve used olive oil instead of melted butter, lime juice instead of lemon and brown or white sugar – And I get absolutely-no-problem-never-fail-pancakes every single time.

I’ve also added yummy chocolate chips or mashed banana to various batches when I was after something a little different.

And despite Amanda and Debbie’s recommendation to use full cream milk, on many many occasions I’ve used reduced fat milk, and guess what?

Yup, perfect every time.

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But if you’re more of a pikelet-pusher or if crêpes are your crack, then you really should try these wonderful recipes from Exclusively Food.

Stick a finger in my eye – promise you’ll be in pan-fried heaven in no time!

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