American Banana Pancakes

Mornings with pancakes are the best mornings. Especially American style pancakes with their soft, fluffy and sweet interior. These are so easy to make, in my opinion, way easier than traditional flat pancakes which always look like sloppy scrabbled egg when I make them! I had my pancakes with a drizzle of honey, some extra sliced banana and a few ripe, juicy raspberries... and then devoured them inelegantly in the garden with a big'ol glass of OJ. Perfect.

Ingredients (for 3 normal people, or 2 with a healthy appetite)

135g of Plain Flour
1tsp of Baking Powder
1/2 tsp of Salt
2 tbsp of Caster Sugar
140ml of Milk
1 Large Egg
2 tbsp of melted butter, plus extra for cooking
2 Ripe Bananas, roughly chopped

Sieve your flour, baking power, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Melt your butter in a medium sized measuring jug, then pour in the milk and crack in the egg, whisk quickly with a fork to combine. Add to the dry ingredients, along with the chopped banana. Stir together with a fork until combined and leave to stand for a few minutes.

In the meantime, heat a large frying pan on the hob (I used one big enough to cook 2 pancakes in at a time). Melt the butter and ladle two blobs of mixture on opposite sides of your frying pan. The mixture will be quite thick, don't panic, this is normal. Once the pancakes start to bubble on the top, flip over quickly (stealth and speed is key here) and cook for another 40 seconds or so on the other side. Transfer onto a plate and keep warm in the oven until the rest of your pancakes are cooked.

They should be about 1cm thick and with lovely golden brown speckles on either side. Devour at your own pace.

Conference Pear and Crunchy Granola Muffins

Muffins are the best, especially for breakfast. These are filling, crunchy and sweet: plus they contain two whole pears, making them practically a health food. These are excellent with a nice cup of coffee in the morning, or for pudding with a dollop of custard. The outside remains crumbly and nutty, whilst the inside stays wonderfully moist due to the pear (yes, I do aways comment on the moistness of a cake when tasting)... (yes, I am 94). 

Ingredients

300g of Self Raising Flour

1tsp of Baking Powder

1 heaped tsp of Cinnamon 

1 pinch of Sea Salt

125g of Light Muscovado Sugar

250ml of Milk 

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

100g of Melted Butter

2 ripe Conference Pears, chopped into small pieces

150g of Crunchy Granola (I used a Tesco's Finest 5 nut and honey job)

Preheat your oven to 180'C and line a couple of muffin trays with cake cases.

Sift your flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Then add the wet ingredients, starting with the melted butter, milk and then the two eggs. Mix into a rough batter before stirring in your chopped pears and half of the granola. 

Spoon into cake cases and sprinkle the rest of the granola over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the muffin (cheeky).

Sunday Snapshots | #1

Happy Sunday, all! Today has been a surprisingly lovely day, filled with sunshine, sardines and wonderful company. After a sleepy start (it's was so nice not to wake up to an alarm!) my morning was spent with a luxuriously languid breakfast of porridge, fruit and yoghurt, followed with a trip to the supermarket to buy baking ingredients and browse the homeware- my God, Tesco's have some serious pastel crockery going on!

You can always tell it's summer in England when the air in our estate smells dense and heavy with the scent BBQ smoke, and naturally, today was no exception. Today my dad griddled some fresh sardines: with merely a little olive oil, salt and rosemary for seasoning. The taste was smoky and fresh, reminding me of a seemingly endless summer we once spent in the South of France, where we cooked sardines most evenings on a banged-up rusty BBQ on our moss-covered patio, as the sun set over fields of sunflowers.

This Kinfolk-style make-shift lunch was made all the more wonderful by the company. After a mad week at work, it was so lovely to relax with my parents and boyfriend in the summer sunshine whilst we nattered about food, holidays and my dad's hatred of Macbeth!

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the time always dawns when I have to drive my boyfriend back to his house. I know I'm lucky that we live so close to each other, but after a glorious day like today, it's always a little sad to say goodbye. After a sleepy drive, watching the field whizz past the car window in a blur of sun-dappled green, and singing loudly to Rod Steward with the windows open ('Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?' will always be a classic), I popped into Toby's for a cup of tea, a chat and a cuddle with his adorable dog, Lola. I always feel so relaxed and at-ease when I'm with him and his family, which is so lovely. 

Naturally, I'm spending my evening typing up this post with my labrador Elma taking up the entire sofa with her outstretched legs, leaving me scrunched up in the corner! Whilst I miss uni and the friends I have there, it is oh-so lovely to be home for the summer. 

How's your sunday been? Have you been making the most of the sunshine?