I know what you want to say. There's soo many pancake recipes out there, every family has its own favorite recipe or recipes they've been making for a long long time. I have had my own fair share of searching for the perfect recipe. I finally found my favorite recipe about two years ago, by accident. I had tried countless recipes by that time but had never been completely satisfied. Either the pancakes weren't fluffy enough or they wouldn't hold their shape well, but the dough would be so runny, you'd end up with a thin, large pancake and I like smaller pancakes that hold their shape well and end up fluffy and perfect.
The recipe is from Cynthia Barcomi's "Backbuch", her first book. I didn't buy the book for its pancake recipe - which I have done in the past, buying a book for a certain recipe. I have a slight cookbook addiction, I admit. But even though I discovered this recipe by accident, I have been making it ever since and never even tried a different pancake recipe.
Here's the recipe:
180g (1 cup + 1 heaping tablespoon) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
30g (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
200ml (3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon) milk
30g (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
unsalted butter, for baking
1) Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix.
2) Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk the milk and eggs in.
3) Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and beat until the dough is smooth.
4) Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat and grease with a little butter. Add 1/8 cup of dough to the pan. Bake up to two pancakes at the same time. You know it's time to flip the pancakes when they are starting to form bubbles on the top.
Yield: about 12 pancakes
Serves: 2 as a main breakfast, 4 as a "starter" breakfast
Active preparation time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 15 minutes
Here's how mine look:
I apologize for the quality of the picture. It was such a grey day outside, I had to switch on a lamp to get enough light.
I served the pancakes with maple syrup and a quick plum compote (that's 6 plums, cut into pieces, 125ml (1/2 cup water), 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, seeds from one vanilla pod and 1 cinnamon stick, brought to a boil and cooked for 6 minutes until the plums start breaking down). In summer, we usually go for a mix of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. But feel free to use whatever you love. You could easily sprinkle chocolate chips on the unbaked side before flipping for chocolate pancakes, for example. Let your creativity loose!
And here's the pancakes with a quick blueberry sauce (1 package frozen blueberries brought to a light boil and 1 tablespoon maple syrup added for a hint of sweetness).
Have fun trying and have a great start to the weekend spoiling your loved ones!
Hi there!
Wow, this week has just been flying by! But I love the cooler weather we've had in Switzerland. There's nothing quite like enjoying a warm cup of tea and treating yourself to whatever it is that makes you feel great. For my part that is savoring all the produce fall has to offer and get the best of the fruit. For example with this simple recipe from my godmother. It is super simple and super low-effort, but tastes great. I don't use a gelling agent for this one as I like this jam to be very soft and a little runny.
Here's the recipe:
about 3 kg (105 oz) plums or prunes, both work equally well; you need 2,5 kg (88 oz) pitted fruit
600g (2 + 2/3 cups; 21 oz) granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 cloves
1 empty tea bag
1) Wash your fruit, then pit it and cut it into small pieces, about 0,5cm (1/4 inch) wide.
2) Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Place the fruit and sugar on a baking tray and stir carefully, but thoroughly to distribute the sugar evenly.
3) Cut the cinnamon stick in 3 pieces, then put on top of the fruit at different ends of the tray. Put the cloves into a tea bag and place them on the tray as well. This way it'll be a lot easier to remove them once the fruit is cooked.
4) Put the tray in the oven and let the fruit cook with for 1 hour.
5) Remove from the oven, take away the cinnamon stick and cloves and, working quickly, fill the jam into glasses all the way up to the top. Let the glasses cool head first. This way, you'll generate a vacuum which will help the jam to keep longer.
Yield: I ended up with 7 glasses of about 250ml (1 cup) capacity
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour and 20 minutes + cooling time (about 2 hours)
Here's how it looks:
You can play around with the amount of sugar depending on the quality of fruit you can get your hands on. My plums were fairly ripe and sweet, so I didn't add a lot of sugar. Most jam recipes call for 1kg sugar for 1kg fruit or at least 500g sugar for 1kg fruit. If you don't like cloves, you can easily omit them.
This is one of my favorite ways, besides cake, to work with fruit. And you can enjoy it so much longer. You can have a piece of fall for breakfast for a few more weeks.
Have fun trying!
Hi guys!
I'm a little late for meat free monday, but I still want to share a vegetarian breakfast recipe with you. I am a little obsessed with anything that includes quinoa at the moment, so when I discovered the following recipe, I was hooked. It combines my favorite grain with all of fall's goodness. Sweet or tart apples and those spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg you love from your Pumpkin lattes.
I discovered the recipe on the website "www.fitsugar.com". The website focuses on everything surrounding fitness and offers a ton of healthy, easy to follow recipes. Here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Apple-Cinnamon-Quinoa-Breakfast-Bake-32210316
Here's the recipe:
1 cup (200g) uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 apples
1/4 cup (50g) raisins
2 eggs
2 cups (500ml) vanilla soy milk
1/4 cup (60ml) maple syrup
1/3 cup (about 60g) whole almonds
Sunflower oil or butter, for greasing
1) Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Rinse the quinoa thoroughly.
2) Grease a 18 x 28cm (7 x 11 inch) baking dish. Fill with the quinoa and spices and mix.
3) Peel the apples and cut them into 1cm (1/2 inch) cubes. Add the apples along with the raising to the quinoa.
4) Put the eggs, soy milk and maple syrup in a bowl and whisk to combine.
5) Pour the liquids over the quinoa and apples and carefully stir everything.
6) Roughly chop the almonds and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 1 hour or until set.
Yield: 6 slices
Active preparation time: about 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Here is how my bake looks:
This is perfect to make ahead on the weekend and reheat in the oven (about 10 minutes at 150°C (300°F) or microwave.
I love the combination of soft quinoa and the fall spices. I made this bake once using regular soy milk and the second time using hazelnut milk. Almond milk should work perfectly, too. I personally like the addition the hazelnut milk gives this dish. It really complements the apple. I guess you could use your favorite variety of apples. I personally prefer crisp, tart apples that taste rather sour than sweet, but feel free to choose any sort you like.
Most of all though, I like the fact that this is warm. In autumn, the nights get chillier and I am feeling better starting my day with something warm.
Have fun trying and start the chilly fall days right!
Hi guys!
It's been snowing all night so the world outside my window is looking white, calm and absolutely beautiful. I don't know about you, but I can't think of something I love more than snow in winter! The weather made me develop an appetite for something cosy and warm and I especially love waffles for lunch, accompanying afternoon tea or breakfast whenever it's getting cold outside. I tried a new recipe from my mum that she's been having for a few years, but I can't remember having made these before... I don't know where the recipe is from, but it certainly is pretty delicious...
Here's the recipe:
200g (1 1/2 sticks; 7 oz) unsalted butter, softened
200g (1 + 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
100g (1/2 cup) superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
3 tablespoons orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau)
4 eggs
1) Place the eggs, sugar and butter in a bowl and beat with hand-held blender or kitchen machine for about 4 minutes until light and fluffy.
2) Add the baking powder, vanilla and orange liqueur and mix to combine.
3) Add the flour and beat until combined.
4) Heat you waffle iron and cook the waffles until the dough is used.
Serves: 4 (I ended up with 7 waffles)
Active preparation time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 20 minutes
Here's how they look:
I especially like the taste the orange liqueur adds to these waffles. You could serve them with whatever topping you like, or without any. I love mine with some orange marmelade, confectioner's sugar dusted on top or a little cinnamon powder or powdered ginger to add a spicy note. There are endless possibilities and lots of ways to use your creativity.
Have fun trying and have a beautiful 1st advent!
Hi guys!
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my pumpkin hunting went a little all-over and I needed to come up with recipes to use all of the pumpkin - approx. 6kg or 12lb of butternut squash. One recipe that instantly crossed my mind was pumpkin bread. My grandmother has been baking this bread for decades as well as mother and everybody at our family loves this. It tastes great with cheese or sweet jams, peanut butter or chocolate spread.
Here's the recipe:
1kg (2lb; 4 + 2/3 cup) all-purpose flour
40g (1 1/2 oz) yeast
60g (little less than 1/3 cup) granulated sugar
120g (4 oz) margarine, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon salt
500g (1 lb) mashed pumpkin
lukewarm water
1 eggyolk
1) Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2) Mash the pumpkin. It might work by putting raw pieces in a blender. If the pumpkin is a little too hard, you can also cook it for a few minutes until it is softer and you're able to blend it. Add it to the flour-mixture.
3) Dissolve the yeast in about 1/4 cup of lukewarm water. Pour the yeast in the flour and start the kneading on low. Drizzle in the melted margarine and knead until the dough comes together. If the mixture is too dry, add tablespoons of lukewarm water, one at a time, until the dough is soft and a little moist in texture. The dough should be cleaning out the bowl with no moist residue sticking to the walls.
4) Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it sit undisturbed for about 1 hour.
5) Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F). Part the dough in three equal parts and roll it out to long strings. Braid the strings. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave it to rise for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.
6) Whisk the egg yolk and a little water together and brush the braid with it. Bake for 45 minutes.
Active preparation time: about 30 minutes
Total preparation time: 3 hours
Here's how it turned out:
The pumpkin really adds a nice touch and moisture to the bread. I love this served warm with chocolate spread like nutella.
Have fun trying!
Hi guys!
It's time for another vegetarian recipe. I have shared quite a few recipes for main dishes with you, so today I want to share a simple muffin recipe. They are titled as breakfast muffins in the cookbook I've taken them from - Nigella Lawson's "Nigella Bites" -, but I think they make a great snack or afternoon tea side dish.
Here's the recipe:
75g (2/3 stick) unsalted butter
250g (1 2/3 cup; 8 oz) self-raising flour
25g (1 oz; 1/4 cup) ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
75g (2 1/2 oz; 1/3 cup) caster or superfine sugar
zest of 1 orange
100ml (3 fl.oz) orange juice
100ml (3 fl.oz) full-fat milk
1 egg
1) Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F). Melt the butter and set aside.
2) Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl.
3) Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted butter. Now pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. If you mix the batter too much, the muffins will turn out hard.
4) Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool slightly.
© Copyright: Nigella Lawson, "Nigella Bites", p. 6
Yield: a dozen
Active preparation time: 10 minutes
Total preparation time: 30 minutes
Here's how they look:
I love that they are done so fast. It takes almost no time to whip up the batter and in 30 minutes, you're rewarded with beautifully golden, fluffy muffins that smell divine. The orange and the almonds go very well together and make a nice alternative to the usual fruit muffin. They have literally lightened up my past week.
Have fun trying!
Hi guys!
I've been sharing a few of my breakfast favorites with you along the way, but as of today, I haven't shared my absolute weekday favorite. I love to make brioche or chocolate bread for the weekend, but on weekdays, I need something I can whip up fast. It is important to me, that my breakfast is healthy and filling without leaving me stuffed. I have found that Oatmeal works best.
Here's my recipe:
180ml (3/4 cup) soy milk
35g (1.2 oz; about 1/4 cup) spelt flakes
1 teaspoon maple syrup
fresh fruit
1) Combine the soy milk and spelt flakes in a saucepan over high heat. Once it's cooking, turn the heat down to medium and set a timer at 7 minutes.
2) At 5 minutes left, stir in the maple syrup.
3) At the end, fold in the fruit.
Serves: 1
You can prepare this by doubling or tripling the ingredients. You might have to let cook the oats for a little more time, though. I have found that double the recipe needs about 9 to 10 minutes of cooking time.
Here's how it looks:
You can use regular milk or almond milk, if you like. I am not allergic to cow's milk, but I've found that I like the taste better using soy or almond milk instead of regular milk. You can also use more maple syrup. I like my oatmeal to have a slight touch of maple syrup only and not be sugary. You can use any fruit you like, dried fruit if you like. I've used raspberries and blueberries in the picture above. When I'm using dried fruit like dates, plums or figs, I will chop it and add it to the cooking oats for the last 3 minutes so it softens a bit.
Have fun trying!
