Tomorrow is Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. In many religious denominations, it is the last day before Lent, a time when you give up something during the 40 day period of Lent. Here in Australia, it’s generally just a time to enjoy eating pancakes. I love my recipe for copycat hotcakes but I’ve so many Different, beautiful, delicious recipes on Pinterest lately, that I thought I better share.
I’ve probably made a rod for my own back. These lazy starts to the day while we’ve been on school holidays. Late breakfasts, making the kids pancakes and adding bananas and cinnamon, chocolate chips, you name it, have spoilt them. This morning’s order came through for pancakes again and I said “oh, alright” (twist my arm they did) until I realised I was out of flour.
That doesn’t normally happen but because I haven’t baked for so long I didn’t realise I was getting low and didn’t top up my supply. I’d seen recipes online before for pancakes made out of cake box mix but never bothered because, you know, I always had flour. My lovely neighbour gave me a hamper for Christmas and in it was one of those ‘Confetti’ type cake mixes. This would score me some major ‘brownie points’ with the kids.
It’s going to be hard to come up with an exact recipe because all those cake mixes have different recipes. I could never really understand some of them. Some say to add 2-3 eggs, milk, melted butter etc. Why not just use normal flour instead of forking out $4 to $5 on a cake mix? You know me. The only time I use them usually is for the kid’s birthday cakes and I only buy the homebrand mixes for 70 cents which you add 1 egg and 3/4 cup of milk to.
The secret would be to make the cake mix as per the directions on the box and add extra liquid, that is usually milk. I think the consistency should be that of a thick yoghurt or cream. Make as you would normal pancakes, waiting for bubbles to appear before turning.
The fussy one was apprehensive at first only because there were ‘sprinkles’ in the pancakes (for heaven sake) but she eventually polished off about 9. The hungry boy had heaps, smothered in strawberry jam or Nutella. A good one to remember should I run out of flour again.
This is another great recipe for a bulk pancake mix I got from the Simple Savings forum. It has been so versatile and I use it all the time for pancakes, pikelets, crepes, fritters, etc. No need to ever buy “Shake’n’Pour” batter mixes (not that I ever have).
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| Wholemeal Apple & Cinnamon pikelets |
Bulk Pancake Mix
6 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk powder
3 tablespoons sugar
Method:
Mix together the following lightly:
1 1/2 cups pancake mix
3/4 cup water
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
I sometimes use Self Raising flour instead of the plain flour and baking powder. I normally don’t add sugar to the bulk mix allowing me to use it for savoury dishes but instead add the sugar to the batter if I’m making sweet. This is also a good gift to give. Just make up the bulk mix, store in a nice jar or container and add instructions to make up on a label.
