Sweet vegan pancakes or troubleshooting cake baking

Sunday morning brings us apples from the farmers market, lemons from the backyard, and an aborted cupcake flour and sugar mixture.  Plus two kids in the corner playing Exploding Kittens and waiting for breakfast at the end of their sleepover.  Time for pancakes!  They were much sweeter than usual but surprisingly good - the pancakes not the girls (though the girls were well behaved too).

Let's rewind to Friday afternoon when I was at a meeting listening to one of the senior managers talking about strategy.  I felt a bit like Ferris Bueller's girlfriend in class just before she was told her grandmother died.  Luckily I had my phone on silent when Sylvia started texting to me to ask for my best vanilla cake recipe.  I am not a big vanilla cake fan so I texted her to go to taste.com.au or Nigella Lawson.

When I arrived home on Friday the kitchen looked like the Swedish Chef had been at work.  Mysteriously, as well as a half filled mixing bowl, cupcake tins of batter and plentiful drips, there was a bowl of flour.  Sylvia explained it was flour and sugar and baking powder because she had started a unicorn cupcake recipe and found we did not have sour cream.  I wish I had been there to help but it is all part of learning to bake to stumble upon roadblocks.

So this Sunday morning I set out to make the batter into pancakes, using a favourite fluffy vegan pancake recipe for guidance.  Did I mention there were no eggs or milk (not even soy milk) in the house!  The batter seemed on the thin side and was quite frothy once I decided to add the vinegar but it cooked up a treat.  Probably due to all the sugar.  These pancakes have much more sugar than I usually add.  So much sweet stuff gets dumped on the pancakes that they don't need much sugar, as a rule.  Another odd thing about these pancakes was that even when I greased the pan well, the pancakes needed a lot more coaxing than usual to get them off the pan.

The pancakes were rather good: soft and fluffy, albeit quite sweet.  I am not sharing these pancakes to encourage you to make them but rather to share my solution as to how to rescue this cake mix.  But if you are after a dessert pancake to serve with a dark chocolate sauce and lots of fresh berries, then I think these pancakes might be just what you need.

More vegan pancakes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana oat pancakes (v)
Nutella stuffed pancakes (v) 
Spinach pancakes  (gf, v)
Squeezy bottle vegan pancakes (v)
Vegan fluffy pancakes (v) 

Sweet vegan pancakes
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
Makes about 12-15 medium pancakes

1 1/2 cups plain white flour
1 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water
3 tbsp margarine, melted
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
extra margarine for frying.

Mix all ingredients together.  Heat frypan over medium heat and swirl a small knob of margarine around the pan.  Drop about 2 dessertspoonfuls for each pancake.  Cook until mixture is bubbly, and then turn and leave for about 30-60 second (ie not too long).  If they are really pale you can continue cooking until they are golden brown.  Be very gentle easing the eggflip/spatula under the pancakes as they seem to stick even to a nonstick frypan with margarine.  Eat hot or at room temperature

On the Stereo:
Down in the Valley: Handsome Family

Vegan fluffy pancakes

Are pancakes becoming old hat?  After all, they have lots of competition these days with fancy waffles and crumpets and the like.  We went out for brunch on the weekend to The Boot Factory which has recently taken the pancakes off the menu.  Sylvia was most displeased.  I should have just made her a batch at home.  It isn't that hard.

This recipe for vegan pancakes is one I stumbled across and really wanted to try.  They looked fluffy and used common ingredients.  I made them a week ago because I had stewed plums and fancied them on some pancakes.  We always enjoy sitting around the kitchen table on a weekend morning with maple syrup, lemon and sugar at the ready, waiting for the pancakes to be flipped onto our plates.

One of the biggest challenges with vegan pancakes is to the get the right fluffy texture.  These were not quite as fluffy as eggy pancakes but pretty damn close.  I think these would make good large pancakes but I can't help reverting to the way my mum made them small so that nobody had to wait too long for their pancake.  But unlike in my childhood, I am very fond of maple syrup on pancakes, even when serving them with plums.

More vegan breakfasts at Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana oat pancakes (v)
Chocolate muesli (granola) (v)
French toast with banana (v)  
"Nutella" stuffed pancakes (v)
Potato scones (v)
Spinach, sundried tomato and chive chickpea scramble (gf, v)
Tofu besan omelette (gf, v)
Tofu scramble (gf, v)

Vegan fluffy pancakes
Adapted from The Pretty Bee

1 1/2 cups plain flour - I used half and half white and wholemeal
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups soy milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons rice bran oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
margarine, for frying

Mix all ingredients (except margarine) to make a thick batter.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Meanwhile heat frypan over medium heat.  Rub a little knob of margarine to cover the pan.  Drop heaped dessertspoons of batter on the pan.  It takes quite a while (5 minutes or so) until bubbles appear.  It should be golden brown.  Flip over and cook another few minutes until browned on the other side too.

On the stereo:
Magnifique - the Icons of French Music: Various Artists

Potato, chickpea and cauliflower pancakes

Shrove Tuesday and sweet pancakes are intertwined in my memory.  No wonder when it heralded 40 dessert free days of Lent in my childhood.  But we are more ad hoc about desserts in our household so I had a hankering for a savoury stuffed pancake when Shrove Tuesday rolled around last week.

I give some credit to my worms for inspiring the recipe.  My worms in my work farm are unsettled lately so I wanted to give them lots of scraps.  The whole cauliflowers in the supermarket have lots of leaves around them that I can feed the worms.  In fact when a few leaves fell off at the checkout and the check out woman put them aside I asked her to put them in my bag.  She checked I really wanted them and then was happy to do this.  Probably relieved at one less thing to do, though maybe also too aware of what the supermarket does with food scraps.

I put together the filling during the day.  Roasting cauliflower, frying onion and boiling potatoes are easy tasks to be done around chatting to my mum and pruning roses and sorting out forms for school.  Then I mixed it all together before picking up Sylvia from school.  After taking her to gymnastics, I just needed to fry up some pancakes.

I haven't made these thin unleavened pancakes for some time.  We usually have fat fluffy ones for breakfast and they are often egg free.  I still hold my childhood sense of wonder at the amazing thick fluffy Pancake Parlour pancakes, even though I don't think my mum's pancakes were really thin.  But every now and I again I fancy some thin British style pancakes that can wrap around a filling. 

In fact, now that I have made a few flat breads such as Tortillas, yoghurt flatbreads and Staffordshire oatcakes, I find these pancakes more like a flatbread than a cake.  However these pancakes don't have bubbles - no big bubble like a flatbread and no tiny bubbles like baking powder pancakes.

The pancakes seemed to take forever when everyone was hungry.  The first one I did, I was overenthusiastic about swirling it around the pan and when I tipped the pan up too high, the uncooked pancake peeled off the pan and rolled up into a soggy roll of batter.  I was more careful after that.

Sylvia did not like the look of the stew we had in the pancakes so she had a special cheesy mashed potato filling.  By the time she had hers she was so hungry she had to take a bite before I took a photo.  Fair enough after a day of school and 90 minutes of gymnastics.

We kept our pancakes vegan with some hummus and baby spinach to complete the filling.  It would have worked just as well in a tortilla or a flatbread wrap but it was just right to wrap everything around a pancake on Shrove Tuesday.

These pancakes were pretty filling but we also had chocolate pancakes for dessert at Sylvia's insistence.  You can see a photo of her pancake here.  I did not take photos of half eaten pancakes and stacks of uneaten pancakes.  We were so full from our main course.  And I had a lot of stew to last the rest of the week because we made far more stew than pancakes.

I am sending these pancakes to Allotment to Kitchen and Veg Hog for Eat Your Greens.

More savoury pancake recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Aquafaba crepes with haggis (v)
Corn pancakes and salsa
Pancakes filled with potato and lentils
Spinach pancakes  (gf, v)
Pea pancakes with sun-dried tomato pesto

Potato, chickpea and cauliflower pancakes
Pancakes 
Adapted from Sarah Brown via Green Gourmet Giraffe
Makes about 7-8

• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• Butter, margarine or oil, for frying

Potato, Chickpea and Cauliflower Filling:
Serves 4-6

• 1 large cauliflower
• 4 medium potatoes
• 1 brown onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• dried herbs 
• 1-2 cups chopped tomatoes
• 400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• olive oil and seasoning

To serve:

• Hummus
• Baby spinach

To make filling:

Break cauliflower into florets and roast about 30 minutes at 220 C or until it is soft when a knife goes through it.  Once cauli is cooked chop the florets.  Dice potatoes and simmer in salted water for about 10 minutes or until just cooked.  Fry onion in about 2 tsp of olive oil (or a generous drizzle) for 20-30 minutes or until soft and golden brown.  Add garlic and herb mix and stir for about a minute.  Add tomato, chickpeas, potato and cauliflower.  Cook about 5 minutes or until tomato is starting to wilt.  Check and adjust seasoning.

To make pancakes:

Heat a non-stick frypan over medium head and lightly oil the frypan either with a little oil and some kitchen towel to wipe it over the frypan or using butter or margarine. Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture, or a little more, into the frypan and swirl around a little to cover as much of pan as possible. Fry the pancakes for a couple of minutes (a minute for the batter to dry out slightly and look cooked and another minute for the batter to fry golden brown) Flip and check the underside is golden brown.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes on the other side until light brown spots on the other side. (NB these are thin pancakes and don't bubble up when ready to flip unlike the thicker ones.) Keep pancakes in a stack on a plate covered with a clean teatowel until you are ready to assemble with stuffing.

To serve:

Lay a pancake on the plate.  Spread a spoonful of hummus on the pancake.  Scatter 2-3 spoonfuls of filling along middle of the pancake.  Top with some baby spinach leaves.  Roll up and eat.

NOTES: The stew is vegan.  If you want a vegan pancake, you could use these Aquafaba crepes.  And I made far more stew than pancakes so you could easily make more pancakes.  Or if you preferred a baked pancake, you could wrap these around the filling and bake with some tomato sauce, bread crumbs and some cheese (vegan or dairy as you prefer) and bake at 220 C for about 15 minutes.

On the stereo:
Dua Lipa - self titled album

Pumpkin Pancakes on Parade

When Susan at The Well Seasoned Cook announced an event called Pancakes on Parade, I immediately knew that my contribution would be pumpkin buckwheat pancakes. Pumpkin because I had craved Lisa’s gorgeous Spiced Pumpkin Waffles but I don’t have a waffle iron and I love anything with pumpkin. Buckwheat is something I don’t usually use but I had bought some intending to make Hippolyra;s healthy sticky toffee pudding (yet to come to our kitchen).

'Buckwheat pancakes' had a strangely familiar ring to it that was echoed in the many recipes on the internet. Of course I couldn’t find a recipe for pumpkin buckwheat pancakes. I found a recipe for buckwheat pancakes that were wheat free but had too many eggs. It seemed easier to amend a recipe for pumpkin pancakes so that is what I did. I made pancakes that were large and fluffy, just as I like them.

The wet ingredients mixture was nice and orange but the pancakes didn’t take on the bright colour of pumpkin scones . They flipped nicely on my new scanpan frypan and did retain some pleasing orange marbling in the finished result. My main reservation was the spices. If I make them again I will either add choc chips or to do away with the spices. But with a rosy raspberry sauce and lashings of maple syrup, I wasn’t complaining.

It is always a treat to have pancakes for brunch. Which is odd because when I was young the very idea of pancakes for brunch was quite foreign to us kids who started the day with cereal, toast and vegemite. We mostly had pancakes for sweets (dessert). My mum would sometimes bring the electric frypan to the dining table and we would take our turns getting hot pancakes fresh out of the pan. Our pancakes were quite small and served with either lemon and sugar or butter and sugar. Occasionally mum cut up banana into the pancake batter or gave us jam and butter.

On the weekend I was talking about cooking with mum and she reminded me that she used to cut up chunks of leftover meat and mix them into pancake batter which she fried and served with tomato sauce for dinner. I quite liked these. When I became vegetarian, I found all manner of recipes for savoury pancakes meals and was surprised at how versatile they can be. I really should try more of these recipes rather than just drooling over them.

I find that I mostly make pancakes for brunch every now and again because one of my favourite childhood memories is of Pancake Parlour fluffy buttermilk pancakes with whipped butter and maple syrup. As a child we never used buttermilk or maple syrup at home (nor buckwheat for that matter) so it seemed quite exotic. But the idea of buttermilk in pancakes still seems so right. I am not sure why, but now maple syrup on pancakes and lazy luxurious mornings are inextricably linked in my mind.

In fact the only time I can remember eating pancakes for breakfast while still living with my parents was the morning after my last day of high school. I can’t remember what we did but I know we stayed up all night and decided to have pancakes for breakfast at the Pancake Parlour as soon as it opened. Come to think of it I am not sure if I had them even on that occasion. All I can remember of that night is the delicious anticipation of waiting to eat those wonderful pancakes. Maybe it was closed that day. Or maybe the anticipation was much better than the pancakes.

Even today I consider pancakes an extravagance because I love lots of butter and maple syrup on them. I don’t feel I can or should indulge in such luxuries regularly but every now and again a little pampering is good for the soul.

Pumpkin Buckwheat Pancakes
(adapted from Pinch My Salt)
Makes 5 largish pancakes

180g pumpkin (a bit more than ½ cup) peeled, cooked and mashed
1¼ cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp dark brown sugar
½ cup buckwheat flour
¼ cup plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg and mace)
Pinch of ground ginger
⅓ cup choc chips (optional)
Butter for frying
Raspberry sauce and maple syrup to serve

Mix together the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl or measuring jug with a fork or whisk (don’t worry if the pumpkin hasn’t cooled). Place remaining (dry) ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add the wet ingredients. Mix well but don’t worry if there are a few pumpkin lumps. Add more buttermilk or liquid if the batter is too thick.

Heat a little butter in a non-stick frypan over medium low heat. Use a brush or paper towel to make sure butter evenly distributed. Drop about 3 generous dessertspoons of mixture into frypan and spread it out to about 15-20 cm diameter. Fry about 2 minutes or until bubble begin to appear and the mixture seems to just thicken (or start to cook). Flip and fry another 1-2 minutes on the other side.

Serve with raspberry sauce and maple syrup. (I made the raspberry sauce in the same way as I made berry sauce for my oaty pancakes.)

On the stereo:
A Brief History of the Twentieth Century: Gang of Four

Fluffy pancakes and weblinks - work, play, sustainability, cleaning

When I started my blog, I was so tired of all the boring old recipes that I had made too often.  I was seeking novelty and innovation.  Occasionally I find myself seeking a basic recipe and finding my blog lacking.  Of course the internet is awash with basic recipes but one reason I keep my blog is to have a ready and searchable resource of tried and true recipes for my own use.  So today I bring you my latest favourite basic fluffy pancake recipe.  And, because having a blog means I can share whatever interests me, I also have a list of links to articles I have found interesting or useful lately.

As I mentioned above there are some recipes you can find squillions of online versions.  The challenge is not to find a recipe.  The challenge is to find the right recipe for you.  I actually have a basic vegan fluffy pancakes recipe but which one suits you best and then how it suits you best.

Regular readers know I am not keen on eggs.  We don't always have them in the fridge and when we do, I find they don't get used.  So I decided to use some up in pancakes.  As I am not so keen on the taste of them, I sought a recipe with just one egg rather than 3 or 4.  This suited me but I tried the suggestion to put 1/4 cup of batter to make uniform pancakes and then I just reverted to my usual habit of spooning batter into the pan and making a few at once.  My mum always did and I find I always do too.

I have now made these pancakes a few times.  They have been great when Sylvia has had sleepovers lately.  Perhaps the pancakes have been a bit distracting because on her last sleepover, her friend forgot to take home a tooth that fell out.  I kept suggesting Sylvia take it to her at school but she kept forgetting.  Finally she has told me the tooth is lost.  It probably wasn't a great idea to keep it in a tissue.

We serve our pancakes with maple syrup or lemon and sugar.  My mum used to also serve pancakes with butter and sugar but I suspect this has never been popular in my house because Sylvia just doesn't like butter.  As you can see in the above photos, these are light and fluffy and pillowy, just as pancakes should be.

Now that you have made your pancakes for breakfast, you might have cancelled your newspaper subscription like we have and no longer have it in the front yard when you get up on a weekend.  If so and you would like some online reading, I have some fascinating links for you below.

Work:
(The drinks in the above photo are from one of the talented cocktail makers at my workplace.)

• How to stay focused when you get bored working towards your goals - The Mission
• Against Metrics: How measuring performance by numbers backfires - Aeon
• What most people get wrong about men and women - Harvard Business Review (This is one of the best articles I have read about men and women being treated differently in the workplace.)

Children:

• The dangerous playgrounds of the 1900s - Rare Historical Photos
• I really love all the questions in the Conversation's Curious Kids series.  It includes fun questions such as Why do some people find some foods yummy but others find the same foods yucky?, Do sharks sneeze? and Why don't cats wear shoes?
• 15 awesome reading nooks for kids - Book Riot 

Housework
These handy hints are ones I have tried and found brilliant:

• Using a squeegee to clean hair out of carpets or upholstery - Buzzfeed
• Easiest way to put on a doona or duvet cover (the burrito method) - Country Living
• 4 cheap and easy way to unclog your kitchen sink without any nasty chemicals (I did the bicarb soda and vinegar method) - Wonder How To

Sustainability:

• Why do Americans refuse to give up tampons - The New Republic
• The Bike-Share Oversupply in China: Huge Piles of Abandoned and Broken Bicycles - The Atlantic
• Windows of opportunity to harness solar energy infrastructure - Roads Online (Imagine a film over your windows that will generate solar power!)

More fun pancake ideas from Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana oat pancakes
Nutella stuffed pancakes (v)
Pumpkin buckwheat pancakes
Spiced carrot pancakes
Spinach pancakes (gf, v) 

Fluffy Pancakes
From Cafe Delites

2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarb (baking) soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk (plus up to 1/4 cup extra if needed)
1/4 cup butter , melted
1 egg
extra butter for frying

Mix all ingredients together.  Heat frypan to medium high heat.  Use a metal spoon to run about 1/2 - 1 tsp of butter over the warmed pan.  Spoon 1 - 2 dessertspoonfuls of batter into the pan.  I usually fry about 3-4 at a time.  When mixture is starting to bubble flip them over and then leave another minute or so and turn out onto a plate.  They are best warm but very edible a room temperature too.

NOTES: I used soy milk and vegan margarine instead of dairy milk and butter.  If you have self raising flour, you could use 2 cups of self raising flour rather than 2 cups plain flour and 4 tsp baking powder.

On the Stereo:
Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters: In the Twilight Sad

Vegan fluffy chocolate pancakes: Vegan MoFo

We have had a really lazy morning today.  I am most grateful to Daniel Andrews for declaring a public holiday the day before the AFL Grand Final.  Footy is not really my thing but when you have had a busy week at work of an average 10 hours a day, a public holiday is indeed a godsend.  Sylvia and I have just watched tv and eaten chocolate pancakes.  Now that she is at a birthday party and E is at the MCG with my dad and brother, I have some time to relax and blog.

I really loved the pancakes, based on a favourite pancake recipe.  I didn't mean to make chocolate pancakes but when the only milk in the house is a chocolate one, there is not much choice.  They weren't very sweet.  They were great with maple syrup and strawberries (chopped up to make sure we didn't get any that maniacs have been putting needles into recently in Melbourne).  These would work well as a dessert with a rich chocolate sauce and lots of berries.  I would have loved one of the cooled ones spread with peanut butter but when we had no plain milk last night so I put the last of the peanut butter in my tomato soup. 

You might notice from this last comment that there has been no fancy cooking and no grocery shopping over the past week.  I am on holidays for almost two weeks so I have a chance to catch up.  How lovely to have some time to potter around the house.

More vegan pancakes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana oat pancakes (v)
Nutella stuffed pancakes (v) 
Spinach pancakes  (gf, v)
Squeezy bottle vegan pancakes (v)
Vegan fluffy pancakes (v) 

Vegan fluffy chocolate pancakes
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe

 3/4 cup plain white flour
1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate soy milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons rice bran oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
margarine, for frying

Mix all ingredients (except margarine) to make a thick batter.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Meanwhile heat frypan over medium heat.  Rub a little knob of margarine to cover the pan.  Drop heaped dessertspoons of batter on the pan.  It takes quite a while (5 minutes or so) until bubbles appear.  It should be golden brown.  Flip over and cook another few minutes until browned on the other side too.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Makes about 16-12 small pancakes.

NOTES: We used Vitasoy chocolate milk.  It is not overly sweet.  Either were the pancakes but were great with maple syrup and strawberries.  Next time I might add some walnuts as well.  I misread my recipe I adapted this from and used 1 1/2 tsp baking powder rather than 1 1/2 tbsp but it seemed nice and fluffy.  The pancakes were a bit firm around the edges but lovely and soft once cooled.  If you needed something to take to someone's house they would be a fine offering with a lick of butter/margarine and jam, if made on the same day and kept small like pikelets.

On the Stereo:
Fin de Siecle: The Divine Comedy

This post is part of the Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo) in September 2018.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2018 Vegan MoFo posts. (I had plans this week to have Out of the Kitchen as the theme but with the amount of energy I have had this week I am just pleased to post anything!)

Berry good oaty pancakes

After making my lovely smoothie on Saturday, E asked me to make pancakes, and I was up for a second breakfast because I adore pancakes. Though I love pancakes in savoury dishes, I can’t help associate them with sweet toppings, especially at breakfast time.

I have loved pancakes from a young age so let me tell you my path to pancake heaven. When I was a child, my mum would occasionally bake pancakes for sweets sometimes. We usually had the choice of butter and sugar or lemon juice and sugar. We would sit at the table – seven kids and my dad – while my mum served us small pancakes (almost like pikelets) hot from the frypan. I suspect you would have heard a lot of ‘me next, it’s my turn’ being called out to my mum. For the odd treat she would add bananas to the batter.

Maple syrup was not something we ever had at home. It was however, available at one of the family restaurants where we would infrequently eat out - the Pancake Parlour. My sister Susie was terrified by the Mad Hatter character wandering around the tables, but I was delighted by the large fluffy pancakes, mound of whipped butter and large sticky jugs of maple syrup. We had the excitement of buying their pancake mix once and I found that their secret to golden pancakes was a little bit of turmeric! My brother Andy made wonderful use of the mixture – he makes a delicious pancake brekky. I still love to go to the Pancake Parlour on the odd occasion and have a cheese pancake with salad – but I save half the pancake and eat it with maple syrup for sweets.

Then when I moved to Fitzroy as a student, another sister Chris introduced me to the Fitz – a trendy new café at a time when Brunswick Street, Fitzroy was moving up in the world. The Fitz did a killer breakfast of pancakes which I remember being piled with delicious berries. It was too big to ever finish but it was a revelation of how good pancakes could be. When considering my berries I dug out a recipe from a newspaper for their pancakes and was surprised to find it had apple and pineapple in the recipe - I only remember the berries. But it also had maple syrup and an orange sauce. The Fitz is still there with excellent food but it is no longer bo ho grungy and I couldn’t say if it does these pancakes any more.

When I go out for breakfast I often am tempted by pancakes but try to have them as a treat rather than as a regular breakfast. But when a menu offers up mostly meat and egg dishes, I find them a good alternative. I have had some good pancakes over the past few months – with berries and maple syrup at Rathdowne Street Food Store, with stewed rhubarb and apple at the University Café, and with strawberries, orange sauce and honeycomb cream at Madame Sousous (231 Brunswick St).

But I did have a recent experience in a café on Brunswick Street that reminded me of why I like to make breakfasts at home. We entered the cafe just before 10am and said we would like coffees and something to eat. No problem. The place was quiet and we weren’t in a hurry. I looked forward to some pancakes off the breakfast menu. After 5 or 10 minutes the waitress asked if we would like coffees. Not being a coffee person, I asked about something to eat. We were told that the chef had not yet arrived and they weren’t sure when he would. There didn’t seem much point in hanging around and we went elsewhere. Not an experience I am likely to have at home.

The pancakes I made on Saturday were made with oats. I have seen a few interesting pancakes on blogs recently – pancakes made with oat bran, oatmeal and green tea, and rhubarb and orange. But I found a recipe in my Alison Holst cookbook that beckoned me. She had discovered them in a cabin in California surrounded by snow and they had become family favourites.

I think these will rank among our favourites. They were wonderfully light and fluffy, but felt a little healthier for the addition of oats. The berry sauce was inspired by the Fitz and a Nigella recipe for blintzes from Domestic Goddess. It made good use of the berries I have stashed away in the freezer over summer. I liked the simplicity. The lemon juice and maple syrup enhanced the wonderful berry flavours. Drenched in maple syrup, these pancakes were vying for the title of my most favourite breakfast ever! Pancakes from heaven!

Maybe maple syrup is not the healthiest of ways to start the day. The addition of berries and oats goes some way towards making amends as they are full of antioxidants and fibre. So I am sending this to Cate at Sweetnicks for her ARF/5 a Day weekly event which encourages cooking with antioxidant rich foods.

Oaty Pancakes with Berries
Makes 4 pancakes

Oaty Pancakes (from Alison Holst):
¾ cup milk
¾ cup rolled oats
½ cup wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt (I forgot this)
1-2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
Extra butter for frying

Berry sauce (adapted from Nigella and The Fitz):
200g berries (I used a mix of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
Squeeze of lemon juice (or orange juice)
Splosh of maple syrup

Extra maple syrup to serve

Pour milk onto the oats and leave 5 minutes. Add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and egg. Mix. Add melted butter. Heat a fry pan on medium high heat and place a small amount of butter in fry pan to lightly grease surface. Put a few spoonfuls of batter into fry pan and use spoon to spread it out a little to make a pancake of about 15-20 cm diameter. Fry til bubbles appear in batter and then flip over. Fry an additional couple of minutes or until other side is golden.

To make berry sauce, place berries, lemon juice and maple syrup in a small saucepan and cook on low for about 3 minutes or until berries soft and starting to release their juices.

To serve, I placed two pancakes on a plate, spooned some berry sauce on them and then poured extra maple syrup over then berries and pancakes.

On the stereo:
The Wire Tapper 18 (freebie with the Wire magazine) – Various Artists

Chocolate pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce

Everyone deserves a second chance.  I had one on Shrove Tuesday this year.  You see, on my birthday I went to the Pancake Parlour to indulge in chocolate pancakes but was disappointed.  It was too much ice cream and not enough pancake.  So I made them myself and they were perfect.  Give me chocolate sauce and berries rather than ice cream any day!

The chocolate pancake recipe was found through Jac's 25 pancake stacks to drool over.  They were too decadent for breakfast so we had them for dessert.  After a simple soup for dinner.  The first pancake I made was a bit one but after that I made them smaller like my usual ones.  Even with crowding a few on the pan I found that this mixture made a lot of pancakes.  We still have quite a few of them in the freezer.

The chocolate sauce was a revelation.  Last year I found an idea on Fat Free Vegan for chocolate ganache using choc chips, milk and nut butter rather than chocolate and cream.  I used this for the sauce and it worked brilliantly.  This uses ingredients we usually have about rather than having to buy cream.

The pancakes tasted so good I wanted to take some photos to do them justice.  They were dark and decadent in flavour, yet light and fluffy with texture.  The rich fudgy chocolate sauce worked perfectly with the juicy berries and pillowy pancakes.  E and Sylvia had some ice cream with theirs but I thought they were crazy!

It was a gloomy grey day.  By the time we had made the pancakes after dinner, the light was dull inside.  I took the pancakes outside where I found it was drizzling.  I then discovered that my camera memory card was full and while I was trying to clear it our cat started taking an interest in the pancakes! 

We had so many pancakes that we were able to have a go at stacking them.  I am always amazed at photos of huge stacks of pancakes.  Do people ever eat that many?  And how do they stay in a neat stack.  I took some photos of Sylvia trying to stack them and you can see it was not easy.  Seriously if I really wanted to do it properly I would make bigger pancakes and stack them without a 5 year old about. 

It was a fitting end to the evening when I read to Sylvia before bedtime and the book was about the Moomins eating pancakes.  We have recently finished the Finn Family Moomintroll.  It has awakened me to the charm of the Moomins.  I really loved it when the Hobgoblin visited and was given some pancakes.  He hadn't eaten pancakes for 85 years.  Yet I think he should eat them more often because the Moomins felt that "one can't be too dangerous, if they like to eat pancakes.  I heartily agree!

I am sending these pancakes to Bangers and; Mash and Eat Your Veg for February's Healthy Family Foodies blog event with the theme of Pancake Party, and to Jac at Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes.

More pancake recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Almond meal pancakes
Banana oat pancakes
Blinis with sour cream and beetroot chutney
Pancakes with oats and cornmeal  
Pancakes filled with potato and lentils
Pumpkin buckwheat pancakes 
Spiced carrot pancakes
Spinach pancakes 

Chocolate pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce
Adapted from Cooking Classy
Makes about 2 dozen small pancakes

1 cup milk (I used soy)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar1/3 cup cocoa 
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup plain white flour
1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp maple syrup
margarine or oil for frying
chocolate sauce (below) and berries to serve

Mix milk and vinegar and set aside to sour.  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Use a fork to lightly whisk soured milk, eggs, oil and maple syrup.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Heat a large non stick heavy bottomed frypan over medium heat.  Rub a little butter, margarine or oil over the surface (I use the back of a teaspoon to spread margarine about).  Drop heaped dessertspoons of mixture onto pan with a little space between them.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes - a few bubbles should appear - flip and cook another minute or so until lightly browned on each side.

Eat warm with berries and chocolate sauce.  (Leftovers can be frozen or kept for the lunchbox the next day.)

Chocolate sauce
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp almond butter

Microwave on 30 seconds or until choc chips are just about melted and stir well until smooth and glossy.

On the Stereo:
Weightlifting - Trash Can Sinatras

Pinwheel pancakes with strawberries and cream cheese

In the midst of all our wintery weather, these pinwheel pancakes with strawberries are a little burst of sunshine in our kitchen.  I was very pleased with how they worked out as I am still no expert at big flat pancakes. 

Having fallen in love with the Pancake Parlours fat fluffy pancakes as a child, I usually make mine high and fluffy.  But every now and again I want pancakes wide and thin enough to wrap up food like a blanket, or as in this case, as pinwheels.

We made these for a weekend breakfast.  They were not quick.  We usually eat pancakes hot off the pan.  These had to cook and have the filling laid out neatly to get the pinwheels round.  Not that mine were quite as round as I had imagined.  (Were the strawberries too chunky?)

The inspiration came from Woolworths supermarket recipe card with pinwheel pancakes with strawberries and cream.  I was so sure they had cream cheese in them that this is what I bought.  I much prefer cream cheese over cream.  But what annoyed me about the supermarket recipe was the use of a pancake mix.  I much prefer to make mine from scratch.  After all not all pancake mixes are equal.  And it is not that hard to mix up some pancakes.

The pancakes I used were adapted from a savoury pancake recipe.   I was quite pleased with how they turned out.  The first one was pretty dodgy after handmixing the batter.  Once I used my hand held blender it made a huge difference to the texture.  I only added 1 tablespoon of sugar and thought it too much at first taste but it worked with the filling, which was not overly sweet.

I really liked the taste of these but they are not really breakfast material.  They are more suited to a fancy brunch, afternoon tea or even dessert.  And there are many possible variations.  I would like to try chocolate pancakes with nutella and strawberries.  Other possibilities are dulce de leche with banana slices.  Sylvia tried a couple of lines of raspberries with the cream cheese spread and it was great.  In fact if you wanted to go really fancy, a few different fillings would be lots of fun. 

More strawberry recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Strawberry chia seed jam (gf, v)
Strawberry cupcakes
Strawberry crumble (v) 
Strawberry dumplings (v)
Strawberry sushi with chocolate sauce (gf, v)

Pinwheel pancakes with strawberries and cream cheese
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
Makes about 7-8 pancakes

Pancakes:
350ml milk
1 tbsp lemon
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Butter, margarine or oil, for frying

Cream Cheese Filling:
1 cup cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp icing sugar

200g strawberries

Mix all pancake ingredients together until smooth.  Either mix in blender or mix in a bowl and use a stick blender in the bowl (I did the latter.)  The batter will be very thin.

Cook pancakes:  Warm a frypan to medium to medium high heat.  Melt a small knob of butter and swirl to coat the pan.  Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan and swirl around to make a pancake the size of the pan (25-30cm in diameter).  Cook until a few bubbles appear and there is a slight curl to the edges.  Flip over and cook another 1-3 minutes until golden spots appear on the underside.  Cool pancakes before filling.  (This didn't take very long, especially if I put each pancake onto a cold plate rather than a warm stack of pancakes.)

Mix some cream cheese filling by mixing the cream cheese, lemon juice and icing sugar until creamy.  Halve and slice strawberries.  Spread a dessertspoon on cream cheese mixture and the strawberries over a pancake (I needed about 4 strawberries per pancake).  Roll up and chop into 6-8 pieces.  Repeat with as many pancakes as you want (if you don't want them all as pinwheels, they are very good with other fillings).

On the Stereo:
Music from the Kabarett: Various Artists

Corn pancakes and salsa

On the weekend we went to the Vegie Bar in Brunswick Street and I had a huge burrito for lunch so I only needed a light dinner. Corn pancakes and salsa seemed just the thing! But I was planning a St Andrews Day meal the next night so I didn’t really want leftovers. That was when I realised leftovers would be perfect to go with tattie scones for St Andrews Day brunch.

I knew just where I would find the recipe. Unfortunately I had to hunt for the cookbook among my piles. It is called Pancakes A to Z by Marie Simmons. I was randomly selected to be sent it by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook when I participated in her Pancakes on Parade event back in July.

You can imagine that this is a book to open your eyes to the variety of pancakes just as Susan’s event did. I have spent some time drooling over the great ideas which is why it was caught up with reading matter rather than tucked away on the shelves. The recipes are nicely presented with chatty introductions and tempting pictures.

I quite fancy the idea of making savoury pancakes for meals and am inspired by quite a few recipes such as Ginger Sesame and Carrot pancakes, Indian Spiced Red Lentil Cakes with Coconut Raita, Little Crunchy Rice pancakes, and Zucchini Ginger pancakes with Thai Dipping Sauce. Of course I want to try lots of the sweet ideas too – Apple Cottage Cheese pancakes, Cocoa pancakes with Susan’s Fudge Sauce and/or Rich Raspberry Sour Cream pancakes all sound so good. And I am eager for the opportunity to make raspberry maple syrup. So much good food and so little time! Thanks Susan!

There were two recipes I was drawn to on the weekend – Corn Pancakes with Sour Cream and Caviar and Fresh Corn Cakes with Tomato Salsa. I combined the Corn Pancakes with the Tomato Salsa. In the book the pancakes were a lot plumper than mine but ours tasted delicious – light and fluffy with a buttery crust (due to me misreading the recipe when it came to melting the butter so I had plenty left for frying).

I had a bit of pesto leftover so I added a spoonful to the pancake mixture. This gave the pancakes some green specks but not much extra flavour so I wouldn't bother next time. I took quite a few liberties with the tomato salsa and served it on capsicum and corn which I enjoyed. If I had remembered to buy yoghurt I would have spooned a dollop on the salsa but it was still great without it. A nice light evening meal.

The next morning I warmed up some leftover corn pancakes on the frypan and popped them in the oven to stay warm. Then I fried up the remaining salsa with some mushrooms. I believe that the salsa tasted better warm with the pancakes than cold so next time I think I will serve it that way. This was a nice easy accompaniment for the tattie scones and a very filling breakfast!

All in all, a very pleasing first plunge into the book. Like many things in my life, it has taken some time but I am sure it is the first of many great meals from it. I am looking forward to eating the leftover pancakes which are in the freezer.

Corn Pancakes with Tomato Salsa
(adapted from Marie Simmons)
Serves 4 to 6 - makes about 24 small pancakes

½ cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup plain white flour
¾ tsp baking soda (bicarb soda)
½ tsp salt
Kernels of 1 corn cob (or ½ cup corn)
¼ red onion, finely chopped
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice)
2 tbsp butter (60g), melted
2 large eggs, separated
Extra oil or melted butter for frying
Plain yoghurt or sour cream to serve (optional)

Salsa:
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
¼ red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 dessertspoon olive oil
Seasoning

To make the salsa, mix all ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside at room temperature so the flavours can mingle while you make the corn pancakes.

In a medium bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, soda, salt, corn and onion. In a small bowl or measuring jug, lightly whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter and egg yolks. In another small bowl, use an electric beater to beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Combine buttermilk mixture and flour mixture. Fold in egg whites till just combined.

Heat a little butter or oil in a non stick frypan over medium heat. Drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture into frypan and fry 2-4 minutes until air bubbles appear in mixture. Flip over and fry another 1-2 minutes. Keep frying batches. Place the cooked pancakes on a plate covered in paper towel and keep warm in the oven on medium low heat.

If desired, heat salsa in a frypan before serving with corn pancakes, or serve salsa as an accmpaniment at room temperature.

On the stereo:
Angel of Ashes: a tribute to Scott Walker – Various Artists

Shrove Tuesday Aquafaba Crepes with Haggis

Greetings on this Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday).  I had a go at aquafaba crepes today.  They were good but perhaps not quite as thin as they should be.  I usually make fat fluffy pancakes but today I wanted them thin enough to wrap around some leftover vegan haggis.

I have mentioned before that I have a vision of making a tartan haggis meal.  On my first attempt at tartan haggis, I piped sweet potato and tomato sauce over mashed potato and haggis.  The piping was far too thick.  On the weekend I had a go at piping much thinner stripes.  It is better.  I need to do away with my shaky hand.  And I really wanted a brighter green but my spinach was from dubious sources.  (Curse you, salmonella outbreak in bags of baby spinach!)

The tartan haggis quest continues.  Meanwhile I had lots of haggis and green cheese sauce leftover.  I made a fairly standard fast track pizza with tomato sauce, haggis and grated cheese.  While it baked I made a vegan cheese sauce.  I based in on Dreena's vegveeta sauce but doubled the cashews, added some garlic powder. I placed half in a squeezy bottle (the white half) and then added a few handfuls of basil and garlic plus a good handful of cooked green peas.  It never went green enough but tasted of peas and basil, ie a little sweet but full of flavour.

For Shrove Tuesday, I really wanted a savoury pancake.  It suited me for it to be vegan.  And I am still fascinated by the miracles of chickpea brine or aquafaba.  I finally found a reason to hang onto my balloon whisk when whisking the aquafaba.  At first the mixture was a little too thick to swirl around the pan.  I thinned it down and made another half batch of pancake mixture (because I had the aquafaba).  So a batch and a half made 8 pancakes.  I wonder if I should have thinned the mixture more.

 When it came to stuffing the pancakes or crepes, they rolled up really easily.  I spread the middle with green pea cheese sauce and then sprinkled lots of haggis along it.  I rolled it up placed it in a greased pan.  It was covered in more cheese sauce, tomato sauce and some grated (vegan) biocheese.  I cooked it for about 15 minutes.  The biocheese was disappointing after having it melt so nicely on toast but I guess it looked good and the cheese sauce gave the cheesy flavour.  It was so filling that one stuffed pancake would have been enough each.  Again I questioned if I had made the pancakes too thick.

Overall I was delighted with these pancakes.  Sylvia loved them with some grated cheese in them and rolled up.  The three of us the last one with nutella in it.  They are quite lacy textured, as aquafaba baking tends to be.  It is a brilliant recipe to use up aquafaba and make easy pancakes.  I will experiment with making thinner ones and report back.

I am sharing these crepes with Kimmy at Healthy Vegan Fridays, Jac at Meat Free Mondays, Karen for Cooking with Herbs.

More pancake recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Pancakes filled with potato and lentils
Pea pancakes with sun-dried tomato pesto 
Spinach pancakes  (gf, v)

Almond meal pancakes (gf)
Banana oat pancakes (v)
Chocolate pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce
Pancakes with oats and cornmeal
Pumpkin buckwheat pancakes
Spiced carrot pancakes

Aquafaba crepes
Adapted from Clean Real Food Highs
Makes about 6 large crepes

1 cup aquafaba
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
4-6 tbsp milk or water

Whisk aquafaba by hand to make it frothy.  Gradually whisk in flour, salt and baking powder.  Slowly whisk in water until you have a thin mixture (like pouring cream, only just thicker than milk).

Preheat heavy bottom non stick frypan over medium to medium high heat.  (I needed medium high).  Lightly grease pan (I used a light coating of margarine for the first and then a spray of oil spray between crepes.)

Now add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mixture to pan and swirl to cover pan.  (I think my pan is about 22cm in diameter.  I used 1/2 cups of mixture but others use 1/4 cups so maybe if I had it thinner I could use 1/4 cups and make more pancakes.)

Cook until when you check the underside there is some light golden brown colour.  The edges will curl up and some bubbles will appear but neither indicate there is colour on the other side.  I found I needed to look.  Flip over and cook for another minute or two until some golden brown spots on the second side.

Stack pancakes with a clean tea towel over them.  They will soften slightly.  Stack or fill to serve as desired.  Can be stuffed and baked.

Green Vegveeta
adapted from Dreena Burton via Green Gourmet Giraffe

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 cup milk (I used soy)
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp yellow mustard powder
• 2 good handfuls of basil and parsley
• 1 cup cooked green peas

Blend in a high power blender.  (If your blender is not high powered or you use a food processor you will need to soak the cashews.)

NOTE: if I had a handful of spinach or kale I would put that in too.

Vegan crepes with haggis and cheese 
serves 4

4 crepes (see above)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp green vegveeta sauce (above)
1/2 a batch vegan haggis
1/4 - 1/2 cup tomato sauce (such as this or this)
60g grated biocheese or other cheese

Preheat oven to 220 C

Place a crepe on a flat surface and spread about 2 tablespoons of vegveeta sauce.  Crumble 1/4 of the haggis over it.  Roll up and place face down in a greased casserole dish.  Repeat with remaining 3 crepes.  Spread remaining vegveeta sauce on the crepes.  Spread tomato sauce over the vegveeta.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese has melted.

On the Stereo:
Amanda Palmer goes Down Under