Lemon Vanilla Pancakes

When the morning wakes you up with howls of lashing wind and rain... and upon opening the curtains the only thing you can see is a relentless expanse of rushing grey... It's a wonderful thing to know that you have no obligations and can therefore stay huddled indoors, safe from the world outside.

And what better to eat on a cozy relaxing day off (especially when it's miserable outside) than a batch of hot fluffy pancakes, drizzled with some kind of delectable sweet syrup?

Warm, sweet, buttery... Pancakes are my favorite comfort food.

And I love playing around with what I put in my pancakes. My standard pancake recipe usually involves a banana blended into the pancake mix. That way all of the pancakes are a bit sweeter and moister than usual. Also I tend to go more for the flat, thin, crepe-style pancakes.

However, I have recently been inspired by the other food blogs I've been reading, most of which are written by Americans. They have smaller, fluffier pancakes, which are also quite delicious.
(For my readers in NZ, American pancakes are more like large pikelets.)

So I decided to whip up a batch and see how they turned out. This is actually a recipe I made last week when my camera wasn't working, and it was so yummy I had to make it again to share with all of you.


Lemon Vanilla Pancakes (American Style)

1 cup self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla essence

The way I mix all of the ingredients is very easy: Dump them all in a mixing bowl and blend them with my trusty stick blender. An electric whisk would be great too.
It saves heaps of time mixing by hand and trying to get the lumps out!

Another tip which I highly recommend: Once your pancake batter is mixed, let it stand for about 30 minutes! I am usually WAY too impatient to wait, and just get cooking as soon as the batter is mixed. But because this mix has quite a substantial amount of baking powder, that extra half hour gives it the chance to become properly active, and results in beautifully light and fluffy pancakes.

Heat a frying pan (preferably some kind of non-stick variety... They just make life a bit easier) over medium heat and add a small knob of butter. When the butter is melted and golden and bubbling, you're ready for your first pancake.

Make them as big as you like. I personally prefer them not too big, so I have a large dishing up spoon handy. One spoonful of batter = one pancake. My pan is big enough to cook two small pancakes at the same time.

When the pancakes are getting lovely and bubbly on the top, they're ready to be flipped. That side should be a lovely deep golden brown.

Repeat until the batter is finished.

Serve with a drizzle of warm honey and lemon juice, or whatever else takes your fancy!

One serving suggestion which is sinfully delicious is the following:

Each pancake that you've made and put onto the plate, put a small knob of butter and a small teaspoon of honey on top. Put the next pancake on top of that one (the heat will melt the butter and honey) and add a dollop of butter and honey to the top of that one too, and so on and so forth.
So you end up with a bit of melted butter and honey between each pancake..... It's truly heavenly (but I wouldn't do it too often.)