Sunday Morning Pancakes

It’s become a bit of a tradition in our house that, on weekends when we’re at home, Sunday mornings are pancake mornings. They’re the only thing that Piglet is prepared to wait for, compared to his urgent shouts for ‘bread’ or ‘cereal’ on other mornings. It helps that he gets to stand up on his stool, stir the pancake mixture and pour (occasionally) the pancake mix into the frying pan.

The pancakes themselves are fairly easy to make and seem to go down well, setting him (and us) up for whatever our Sunday has in store. The recipe was originally for ‘Blueberry drop scones’ but we’ve tinkered with it until it’s more of a banana American pancake. As an added bonus the time that Piglet spends making the pancakes perfectly gives me time to make a selection of steamed cashew nut milk drinks for my other website. This morning: a macchiato, babyccino and decaf flat white.

The recipe is basically a mix-the-ingredients and fry style thing – so it’s fairly straight-forward… The instructions below will make enough for 3 people but we quite often double up and us anything that’s left as snacks from the fridge (on particularly gluttonous days, there aren’t any left!).

• Firstly, mash a ripe banana roughly with a fork in a large bowl
• Sift 1 cup of self-rising flour into the bowl (we often use wholemeal flour as it gives the pancakes more flavour and depth)
• Break an egg into a well made with your finger in the flour and banana
• Slowly add 150ml of dairy free milk in stages, whisking into the flour each time to minimise the lumps. There are going to be ‘bits’ of banana so don’t worry too much – but avoid just pouring in all the milk and hoping for the best!
• Heat a frying pan to a medium heat and add a small knob of coconut oil
• Fry the pancakes in small patches (number depending on the size of your frying pan) using a small ladle/two tablespoons per pancake.  If you’re interested, the small ladle we use to give the perfect pancake dollop is the toy ladle from the IKEA kid’s cooking set!  (As a guide turn the pancakes when the air bubbles start to show)
• Stack the pancakes on a plate and allow to cool before feeding to a little one.

I’d suggest pairing with any (or all) of the following:

• Bacon
• Almond (or other dairy-free) yoghurt
• Peanut Butter
• Fresh Fruit
• Maple Syrup
• Coffee, lots of coffee (you’ll probably need it)

The best bit is getting the little one to help you make the pancakes and then seeing his excitement when he then gets to eat them.