How to cook pancakes, clafoutis and crumpets

Basic pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups self-raising flour
• ½ cup of castor sugar
• 3 eggs
• 30g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup milk
• 1tsp vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Place the flour and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Place the eggs, butter, milk and vanilla in the well and stir with a wooden spoon.
3. Allow the batter to stand for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Heat a lightly greased non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
5. Pour ¼ cup of the batter into the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.
6. Flip the pancake over and cook the other side until light golden.
7. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Tip

Don’t over-mix the batter – it makes the pancakes rubbery.

Try these yummy toppings for pancakes

• Chocolate chips
• Dried fruit
• Fresh fruit
• Nuts, raw or roasted
• Butter
• Compote
• Cream cheese
• Fresh fruit
• Jam
• Maple syrup
• Peanut butter
• Brown sugar and cinnamon
• Lemon juice and sugar
• Sour cream
• Whipped cream
• Yogurt

Savoury supper

For a light lunch or supper, a savoury crèpe is filling, tasty and easy to assemble. The kids will gobble up this creamy chicken and Napolitana pancake

Ingredients

• 50g butter
• 400g chicken breasts, chopped
• 2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
• ¼ cup of white wine
• 1 ½ cups pouring cream
• 1tsp chopped thyme leaves
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup roughly chopped basil, plus extra for garnishing
• 1pkt ready-made Napolitana sauce
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 4 ready-made pancakes

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the chicken and cook until slightly browned. Add the leeks and cook for a further 5 minutes until tender.
3. Pour in the wine and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
4. Add the cream, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and mix in the basil.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the pancakes and roll up.
6. Place them into an ovenproof dish and pour Napolitana sauce over. Top with the Parmesan cheese and bake at 180ºC until browned. Garnish with the remaining basil.

Teatime treat

Clafoutis is a classic French dessert. It’s basically fruit in a batter. These mini pear and maple clafoutis are perfect for teatime or for pudding. You can experiment with whatever fruit is in season – berries and cherries are particularly good.

Ingredients

• Pancake batter (replace the milk with cream)
• 75g butter
• 4 small ripe pears, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup maple syrup
• Icing sugar and crème fraîche for serving

Instructions

1. Prehead oven to 180ºC
2. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.
3. Add the syrup and the pears and cook until soft (about 5 minutes).
4. Remove from the heat and spoon the pear and maple syrup mixture into a greased 12-hole muffin pan.
5. Pour the pancake batter over, filling the cups to about 2/3 of the way.
6. Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and golden. Makes 12. Serve dusted with icing sugar and crème fraîche.

Lunchbox luxury

Let the kids spread Nutella between a stack of raspberry crumpets for a very tasty lunchbox treat.

Ingredients

• Pancake batter
• 1 ½ cups of raspberries (frozen or fresh)
• Nutella for serving

To make the crumpets

1. Add the raspberries to the pancake butter and mix gently.
2. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat.
3. Drop cup of pancake batter into the pan and cook until bubbles form on the top.
4. Flip the crumpet over and cook on the other side until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining pancake batter.
5. Allow the crumpets to cool.
6. When ready spread Nutella chocolate spread between the crumpets and sandwich together.

Decadent dessert

Try a delicious walnut and butterscotch crèpe.

Ingredients

• 4 ready-made pancakes
• 30g butter
• 1 cup walnuts
• ¼ cup of honey
• ½ cup of double cream
• Extra cream for serving
• Fresh fruit for serving

Instructions

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the butter, walnuts, honey and cream and stir until the butter is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and simmer for about two minutes, until caramelised. Spoon the warm butterscotch walnuts into the crépes and top with an extra dollop of cream. Serve with fresh fruit.