I’ve been hosting brunch quite a lot recently and have decided that a full fry-up is not entirely season-appropriate now that the sun is (sometimes) shining. That said, I don’t think we’ve entered the fruit-salad-and-smoothie-in-a-sarong stage of the year yet (and for anyone staying put this summer, I fear you may never get there…) so I had in mind something comforting – for those of my guests ‘fresh’ from a heavy night out – and robust that will stave off hunger until a cheeky five o’clock sandwich.

My brother passed on this pancake recipe from a friend and I have already used it twice – the first time, there was such a hungry stampede that I failed to take any photos at all…the second time, I managed to shoot a couple of the pancakes but the rest, along with the mass of bacon, disappeared quicker than I could say ‘cholesterol’! ***JULY 2015 UPDATE: FINALLY SHOT NEW PHOTOS, YAY!***

These fluffy pancakes will be a sure hit with your friends (unless they’re weird) – serve with a choice of crispy bacon with lashings of maple syrup, and Greek yoghurt with berries (the vegetarian or ‘healthy’ option), and you will be very popular indeed. I only tried bacon with maple syrup for the first time in Auckland a couple of years ago and I was an instant convert (the salt the sweet the crunch the gooey-ness ooooh) – boy, do the Kiwis know how to do brunch!

I won’t champion these pancakes as healthy but they are easy as pie and an absolute delight – what’s the point of life without treats?

Fluffy American pancakes

Serves a hungry 4

Ingredients:

– 85g butter (plus extra for greasing)
– 375g plain flour
– 25g baking powder
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 2 tablespoons caster sugar
– 590ml milk
– 2 large eggs (free-range please)

Method:

Melt the butter in a frying pan on a low to medium heat and set aside to cool.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk together the melted butter, milk and eggs and add to the dry ingredients. Mix with a whisk or fork until you have a smooth batter and any lumps have disappeared. Tip: Leave the batter to stand for about ten minutes before you start cooking – I found my fluffiest pancakes were later on in the batch.

Pour or ladle about five tablespoons’ worth of mixture (or less if you like your pancakes petite!) into a lightly greased frying pan on a medium heat. After a couple of minutes, once bubbles have started appearing and popping on the surface of the pancake, flip it and cook on the other side until golden brown. Tip: Unlike with crêpes, there is no need to tilt the pan to distribute the batter evenly – this batter is thick and oozy so will magically spread itself into an even disc!

Repeat until the batter is used up.

Serve immediately or keep warm in a low oven until you’ve got a leaning tower of Pisa effort ready to wow the table with.

Source: Recipe and photos from pip & little blue.