Pancakes

Scott had been somewhat stressed with a week of deadlines so I decided to surprise him on Saturday morning with pancakes in bed.  I know, how great a wife am I?  He was endlessly cheered by my kindness and pancake-y deliciousness.  Also these babies made my kitchen smell like butter popcorn, YUM.  This is a great recipe, I found it on the fabulous Pioneer Woman website and just had to try it for myself.


If you want to make them, then here's how!

You will need; Flour, Cornflour (The original recipe is American and used cake flour, which you can't get here in the UK so I'm using plain flour with some cornflour mixed in to substitute.), Milk, Salt, Baking Powder, Sugar (the recipe says white sugar but I'm a tool and forgot to buy some so I used brown; it tasted fine!), Vanilla Essence, Butter, Eggs and Maple Syrup.

Also if you haven't already then you should get some of these.  Measuring cups will change your life.  Throw away those scales!  Its all about cups and spoons round here!

Put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and give them a quick mix.  Don't worry about using a sieve; I now have learned that lumpy batter gives lighter, fluffier pancakes!  When measuring out quantities for the flour/cornflour mix, allow 2 tablespoons of cornflour for every one cup of flour.

Then put the milk and eggs in a separate bowl or jug.

And beat it until its nice and frothy.

Then add some vanilla.  Yum.

This bit is important (apparently).  While slowly stirring the mixture, drizzle the egg/milk/vanilla concoction into the bowl.  If you don't do this, life as you know it will end.

And now it should be lovely and light, WITH LUMPS.  Trust me, I know of what I speak.

Now get some butter in a bowl.  Butter makes everything better.

Especially when its melted and poured into whatever you happen to be making. Mix it up til it blends into the rest of the batter.  Your thighs may not thank me, but your taste buds will.

Now its time to crack out the pancake pan, and pour some batter over a medium/low heat and let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Until it looks like this

Then turn that baby over!  When I was cooking these, my kitchen smelled of microwave butter popcorn.  YUM.

Now you need this.  And don't skimp, get the good stuff!  There's no point in making pancakes this good unless you are going to finish the job properly!

Hello lover.  If you'll excuse me, the pancakes and I need some time alone together.

Ingredients - Serves 6

• 3 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
• 6 Tablespoons Cornflour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• Extra Butter
• Maple Or Pancake Syrup

Preparation Instructions

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl.

Mix together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl or jug.

Slowly add milk mixture to dry ingredients, stirring constantly.

Melt butter and add it to the batter.

Cook on a greased pan over medium-low heat. Serve with an obscene amount of butter and warm syrup.

And so it begins...

But where to start?  Hi.  I'm Pam, and I love my life.  So much so that I thought the world would surely be a better place if I were to share some of it.

There are many things in my life that make me happy.

This is Julia.  She makes me very happy.  Julia makes my world go round, her giggles and nonsense make everything right in my life.

And this is Scott.  He is the other main source of happiness in my life.  I think without him I would be a little lost.  He opens jars and catches spiders and is thereby rather useful to keep around.

We have another bit of goodness to look forward to, but he won't arrive until October.  He's only part-baked at the moment, mini-humans generally need a full 9 months to cook properly.  I do have some concerns about his arrival though; a lady came into my place of work the other day and was very lovely, as all old ladies are.  She was asking all about how I was enjoying being pregnant and when I was due.  Her face fell a little when I answered her last question, and my reply prompted another question

       "October?!  So how many are you having?"

When I informed her that I was in fact only expecting one baby, the best she could manage was a condescending smile and muttered reassurances that perhaps my bump was merely experiencing some form of growth spurt and I shouldn't worry, it would surely slow down as time went on.

So now I have deep rooted fears that I am in fact gestating some sort of mammoth monster baby.

Perhaps one of my less happy moments.

Before this particular piece of goodness make his grand entrance into our lives, we have more excitement in the form of a new house.  This pleases me muchly.  We will be out of our teeny totey house in the town and into a much lovelier house in the country (I use the term country rather loosely.  There are still the comforts of town life, like take-aways and a supermarket, but without the excessive amount of grey everywhere you look).  So this also makes me happy.

There are other sources of joy in my life.  My camera, for one.  Oh how I do love my camera.  It is so pretty and wonderful, and rights so many wrongs.  I tend to use my camera mainly for taking pictures of the other good things in my life.  Except my cat.  Hobbes. 

He is somewhat camera shy and most of my attempts to capture him in a picture result in something that looks like a miniature grey tiger shaped blur.  He does like eating bugs though.  He stalks them through the house if he finds them.  He hunts them like a lion in the Savannah hunts a gazelle.  And then he pounces and eats them up right there and then.  So he is also rather useful; his bug killing talents almost make up for his incessant miaowing at inappropriate times of the night and his love of standing right behind your feet so that you trip over him at the slightest movement.

And so now I shall depart.  It is my daughter's 3rd birthday next week, so I shall be indulging in some form of cake making fiasco over the weekend.  If they look lovely then I shall enlighten you with an in depth, step by step guide to recreate my success.  If they don't, then, perhaps I can give some helpful pointers on what not to do.

Until next time.

Pam xx