Quick and Easy Pancakes

I do enjoy having pancakes for breakfast once in a while, though not really as a dessert unless they are thin crepe-like ones filled with cream cheese and served with strawberry sauce (sounds familiar? Pancakes on the Rocks??). On the weekends, while I'm still half asleep in bed in the morning, the kids would come close to me and scream into my ear "Mummy! Wake up! Can you make me some pancakes/french toast/scrambled eggs for breakfast?!!".

I've made pancakes on several occasions using various recipes, and I found that the simplest one is the best. These pancakes don't use fancy ingredients and can be prepared in minutes. You really don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen making breakfast nor cleaning up after that. Moreover, the kids think I can just make food appear on the table at the snap of my fingers, or nod of the head, blink of the eyes....you know. Hungry kids just want their food quickly, because if you make them wait too long, they get distracted and might change their mind about what they want to eat.

I just love how easy these pancakes are, and they have a lovely texture that is not too airy nor too dense. We enjoy them with just butter and maple syrup, though you can use this basic recipe to make them into something a bit fancier.

Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
Butter

Method

1. Combine flour, bicarbonate of soda, ugar and salt in a large bowl and mix with a whisk.
2. In small bowl, beat the egg and combine with the milk. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix with  a whisk until you get a smooth batter. Add a little more milk if the batter is too thick.
3. Heat up a non-stick pan on medium heat and melt a little butter in it, enough to grease the surface.
4. Use a ladle to pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan. Do this in one stroke so that the surface of the pancake browns evenly. I used a large pan, so I made two pancakes at a time.
5. Let the pancakes cook for 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface and start to look almost dry and set. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook the other side for 1 minute or until lightly browned. Transfer onto a serving plate and repeat with the rest of the batter.
6. Serve the pancakes immediately with butter and maple syrup, or your favourite topping.