Chocolate pancakes

Ingredients for pancakes:

·         150g plain flour

·         2tbsp cocoa powder

·         2 med eggs

·         300ml milk

You can serve your pancakes with:

- bananas

- kiwis

- cherry jam

- Nutella and nuts

- icing sugar

- strawberries / raspberries

Method

1.    To make the pancakes: Whizz flour with cocoa, salt, cinnamon, eggs and milk. Chill for 1 hour if you have time.

2.    Serve with strawberries, or raspberries, bananas, kiwis, Nutella and chopped nuts or icing sugar.

Apple and cinnamon pancakes

Ingredients

·         3 eggs

·         125g flour

·         1 large teaspoon honey

·         A big pinch of baking powder

·         140ml organic milk

·         Sea salt

Method

1.    Separate the eggs. Place the yolks in a large bowl and add the flour. Add the honey, baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the milk to make a smooth batter.

2.    In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks and fold gently into the yolk mixture.

3.    Heat a non-stick pan, gently drop in spoonful of the mixture, and cook on each side.

My topping for the pancakes:

1.    Caramelized apple with cinnamon. Foam a blob of butter in a pan, toss in diced apples (1 apple per person), a sprinkling of cinnamon and a little sugar and fry till brown. Take off the heat and stir in some double cream at the end.

pancakes with strawberries

Pancakes with sweet strawberries

Ingredients

For the pancakes:

·         100g flour

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         300ml milk

·         Olive oil

For the filling:

·         20 strawberries, chopped

·         2 tsp sugar

·         1 tbsp caramel sauce

·         300 ml Greek yoghurt

·         2 tbsp, almonds

-  In a bowl, sprinkle the sugar over the strawberries and leave for couple of minutes. Switch your oven on to a low heat.

-  Place the flour in a bowl and gently whisk in the milk and eggs (it should be the consistency of singe cream).

-  Heat a medium sized frying pan on a medium heat then wipe it with oil. Ladle enough batter into the pan to coat the base with an even, thin layer when you tilt it around the pan.

-  Leave the batter to stand until the top side looks dry and the bottom is golden, usually around 30 seconds. Turn or flip the pancake to cook the other side. Once cooked pop it on a plate, cover with foil and keep it warm in the oven. Repeat this till all the batter is used up and you have a pile of pancakes.

-  Gently fold the juicy strawberries and caramel through the yoghurt till it just ripples. Serve pancakes topped with the yoghurt mixture and scatter with almonds.

for pancakes lovers

Pancake festval 


For next few days I am going to show you how you can make your pancakes look and taste splendidly.

5 recipes coming up soon!

- Irish scones -

INGREDIENTS

• 450g self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 75g butter, at room temperature
• 50g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 220 ml milk

Preparation time: about 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Makes about 20 scones

1.     Lightly grease baking tray. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.

2.     Measure the flour and baking powder. Add the butter and process until a crumble, then add the sugar. Or make by hand by rubbing the butter into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

3.     Beat the eggs together until blended and make up to a generous 300ml with the milk. Gradually add the egg/milk mixture to the dry ingredients until you have a soft dough.

4.     Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it out with your hand, or use a rolling pin, to a thickness of 1-2 cm.  Take the pastry cutter and tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the dough.

5.     Arrange the scones on the prepared baking trays. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the scones are well risen and golden.

Tips

You can either eat scones on the day of making or freeze once they have cooled. For large scones, this amount of mixture will make 8-10 scones. Eat them with your favorite jam and/or butter.

                             Very easy , very tasty  - Cheese Garlic Bread

Ingredients:
2 baguettes
4 tbsp of butter, softened to room temperature
pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
grated cheese
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

optional: olives, pepper, herbs – to add some variety

How to Make it:

- Pre-heat your oven to 200 C.
- Slice the baguette into pieces.

- Mix the minced garlic and butter along with salt. Slather a good layer of butter on one side of the bread pieces.

- Add the grated cheese on top and garnish with herbs/pepper/olives (if you like).

- Bake in the oven for  5-6 mins until the cheese melts. 

WINTER TIME

Winter season compote

INGREDIENS

6 - 8  pears (peeled)

6 tbsp of honey

1 vanilla pod, halved, seeds scraped

Pinch of cinnamon (or 1 stick)

3- 4 cloves

1 orange

zest of 1 lemon, plus  squeeze of juice

8 large handfuls dried fruit, such as apricots, prunes, apples

METHOD

1. Put the pears in a pan -  large enough to fit them in 1 layer and cover with water. Add the vanilla pod and seeds, honey, cinnamon, cloves, orange,  fruit zest and lemon juice.

2. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10-12 minutes until the pears are cooked. Add the dried fruit. Leave the pears in the remaining syrup and allow all the fruit to steep overnight. (If all the fruit is left together to steep, the dried fruit will absorb too much syrup.)

3. Halve the pears, combine all the fruit with all the syrup in a large bowl.

4. ENJOY!