Lazy Pancake Brunch

Happy New Year, everyone! Like most people, I stayed up way too late last night and slept in just that little bit too long this morning. So what better way to indulge in extended laziness than by enjoying a cooked breakfast, especially one that is served long after midday has passed!

My love of breakfast/brunch food has been well documented by this blog thus far and it may come as a shock that I chose a sweet option today instead of my usual savoury. As often occurs with home cooking, it is not always necessarily a case of what you want to eat or what you feel like cooking, but more of a matter of what you have on hand and the time available to you. (Yes, I pretty much always have bacon in the freezer but, no, I don’t always have the time to defrost it.)

So after a bit of bleary-eyed peering into the fridge and pantry, pancakes it was. I made mine with a Pink Lady apple because that’s what I had in the fruit crisper, however I probably would have preferred the tartness of a Granny Smith. You will notice the recipe below doesn’t stipulate any sugar, so the pancakes themselves aren’t sweet, so you’ll need to serve them topped with maple syrup, cinnamon sugar, icing sugar, fruit compote… or whatever it is that takes your fancy!

Sour Cream Apple Pancakes (makes approx 7 pancakes)

(adapted from Not Quite Nigella)

Ingredients:

·         1 medium apple

·         1½ cups self-raising flour

·         pinch of salt

·         1 tsp cinnamon

·         1 cup milk

·         1 egg

·         ½ cup light sour cream

·         dash of vanilla essence

·         2 tbs butter plus 2 tbs oil, for cooking

Method:

1. Quarter and core the apple then coarsely grate. Set aside.
2. Place flour, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl and stir with a handheld whisk until evenly mixed. Set aside.
3. Measure out milk in a large jug, crack in the egg and mix with a fork to combine. Add sour cream and mix roughly to retain some lumps.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and gradually pour in milk mixture whilst whisking. Continue to whisk until the batter is combined and there are no lumps. Add vanilla and fold apple through the batter.
5. Place a flat-bottomed frypan over medium-low heat and melt 1 tbs butter with 1 tbs oil. When the butter starts to froth, cook ladlefuls of batter until bubbles appear on the surface before flipping to cook on the other side. Melt remaining butter and oil together for cooking when required. 

happy new year & happy cooking!