Middle Lovely’s Chocolate Breakfast Pancakes… & grown up cranberry and orange ones
So it’s half term. And Middle Lovely came for a sleepover with #2. He’s a happy little chap; talks ten to the dozen like #1 and he loves to cook. So last night I got talked into having chocolate pancakes for tea, and this morning we all made a cake. He could never live with us full time as our arteries would probably explode. Here goes with the pancakes, then:
For the basic breakfast pancakes:
2 eggs
1/2 pint milk
225g self raising flour
4 level tbsp caster sugar
Then for the cranberry and orange ones, you’ll need:
Handful dried cranberries
Zest and juice of one large orange
So sieve the flour and stir in the sugar. If you’re making the grown-up version, it’s really nice to heat the cranberries in the orange juice and zest in a small saucepan to soften them up a bit. Then just make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the eggs and milk to make a thick batter. Now, remove most of the cranberries from the orange with a slotted spoon and stir them into the batter. Add a couple of teaspoons of sugar to the remaining orange liquid and bubble gently to reduce into a fruity syrup.
Next, heat a heavy-based frying pan and lightly brush the surface with oil. Dollop a couple of tablespoons of the mixture into the pan, trying not to let them touch, then wait until you see bubbles on the surface before flipping them over. The first one will be a disaster, it always is, but after that you’ll get light, fluffy pancakes studded with beautiful soft little fruity jewels Serve with your orangey syrup. These also make a lovely dessert with a slug of Cointreau added to the fruit juice, and served with mounds of whipped cream.
Or if you’re Middle Lovely, make the basic mixture, then stir in 50g chopped chocolate. Make the pancakes in exactly the same way and serve them with more chocolate in the shape of chocolate spread, or gag-making amounts of golden syrup. Nice one, Lovely.
19 Responses to “Middle Lovely’s Chocolate Breakfast Pancakes… & grown up cranberry and orange ones”
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We eat loads of salads, and lots of fish, it is SO good here, and fresh, and a great price !!!
I am not a great cook, but I am learning, and mainly we do salads…. but tonight I am on the grill, teo good steaks, roasted veg, and a salad !
Moon: Ooh I love smoothies – you probably have a lot more fruit to choose from than we do I bet!
Well, I think you can’t beat keeping it simple – grill a nice steak or a chunk of cod or some big prawns with some gorgeous veggies. A lot of the time I do roasted butternut squash rather than potatoes ‘cos they can be a bit heavy if you’re eating last thing at night.
If I go into town I go to the butcher and get chicken breasts, then poach them in stock (keep it for soup!) and keep them in the fridge – then you can stir-fry them, or bake them in the oven in a tomato sauce (bit of chilli… yum!). Oh and can you get crab there? Crab cakes are easy too… got a recipe somewhere if you want one x
We always have breakfast, wonderful smoothies… they are soooo good. Snack on nuts etc, and then eat healthy at night. It has totally changed how I feel.
But – We do eat out, and we do enjoy, life is for that right… I am a chocoholic, seriously, I cannot have it in the house at all…..
So, I cook on Saturdays and Sundays…. so what do I cook oh wise one ???
Best breakfast option has got to be porridge if you can stand it. I like it with mashed banana and honey (looks disgusting but tastes fab), but you could do the cranberries in juice, then pour over the top of the porridge. Yum! x
Baino: They’re yum with blueberries in the batter too. Ooh, and I love American buttermilk ones too. Gorgeous! x
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Missing salt though. Pancake batter always needs a pinch of salt.
I usually make a choc sauce for the smalls from nutella and milk zapped in the micky-wave and mixed well.