Pancake recipes for you to try

From Ainsley Harriott’s new book Fresh and Fabulous Meals in Minutes:

Apple maple pancakes with blackberry compote.
Makes 18–20
Preparation 20 mins
Cooking 20 mins
2 red-skinned apples
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons butter
150 g (5 oz) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
175 ml (6 fl oz) milk
2 large eggs, separated
maple syrup, to serve
Blackberry compote
300 g (11 oz) blackberries or
blueberries
1 tablespoon caster sugar

For this pancake treat, you can use blueberries if blackberries are unavailable.
Make the compote first. Place the blackberries in a small pan. Add the sugar and cook over a low heat until tender and juicy. Remove from the heat.
Core but do not peel the apples, and slice into rings no thicker than a £1 coin. You will need at least 18–20 slices.
Place in a bowl, add the maple syrup and cinnamon and mix to coat.
Melt half the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add half the sliced apples and cook for 30–60 seconds, until starting to soften.
Remove from the pan and cook the remaining apple slices.Wash and dry the frying pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl.
Add the sugar and mix to combine. In a jug whisk together the milk and the egg yolks, pour this into the dry ingredients and mix to make a smooth batter. In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until they will just stand in stiff peaks. Gently fold into the batter.
Lightly grease the frying pan with a little of the remaining butter and place over a medium heat. Arrange four apple slices in the pan, 4–5 cm (11/2–2 inches) apart and spoon 1 rounded tablespoon of batter over each slice.
Cook until small bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and their undersides are golden brown. Flip the pancakes over with a palette knife and cook for a further minute.
Transfer to a plate and keep warm while you cook the remaining pancakes in the same way.You may need to wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper after each batch.
Serve the warm pancakes with the blackberry compote spooned over and a generous glug of maple syrup.

Oatmeal pancakes with blueberry sauce by Sainsbury's:
Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

For the sauce:
1 teaspoon arrowroot
150ml cold water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
25g sugar
250g frozen blueberries, defrosted

For the pancakes:
75g porridge oats
50g plain wholemeal flour
125g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
25g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1 tablespoon sunflower oil, plus extra for frying
250ml milk

To make the sauce, put the arrowroot into a saucepan with a teaspoon of water to make a smooth paste.
Add the rest of the water, lemon juice, sugar and the blueberries.
Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the blueberries are tender.
Meanwhile, make the pancakes by mixing the oats, flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add the egg, oil and two tablespoons of milk. Mix well, gradually adding the rest of the milk.
Lightly oil a heavy based frying pan. Using a tablespoon of batter for each pancake, cook three to four pancakes at a time over a moderate heat.
Cook for two minutes on each side until the pancakes are golden brown.
Serve the pancakes hot with the blueberry sauce.


Crepes Suzette Souffles by Diana Gould, pastry chef,  Waldo’s at Cliveden:
Serves 4

For the pancakes:
2 Medium eggs
1 Pinch of salt
600ml Milk
240g Plain flour
30g Melted butter
120g Vegetable oil

Whisk the eggs, milk and salt together. Sieve the flour and then add a little at a time to the above, whisking all the time to a smooth batter. Mix in the melted butter.
Place a small amount of vegetable oil in a clean hot frying pan. Pour sufficient batter to just cover the bottom of the pan, swirl to cover. Cook the crepes on each side until coloured.

Oranges and Suzette sauce
3 Oranges
60g Butter
60g Sugar
30g Grand Marnier

Zest the oranges into a small bowl, segment two of the oranges, then squeeze the membranes into a saucepan to extract all the juice. Squeeze the remaining orange into the pan as well. Add the sugar, liqueur and butter to the juice with zest from one of the oranges. Bring this to the boil and reduce by half. Allow to stand until ready to use.

Souffle mixture
250ml Milk
1 Vanilla pod
3 Egg yolks
60g Sugar
15g Plain flour
7g Corn flour

Bring the milk and vanilla to the boil. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and corn flour to a paste. Add half the milk whisking continuously, return to the rest of the milk. Over a medium heat, cook out the mixture for two minutes. Allow to cool.

To cook and assemble
Pre-heat the oven to 220°c.
Beat four egg whites with 20g of sugar until soft peaks form. Take 140g of the soufflé mixture and mix in 50g of Grand Marnier, fold in 1/3 of the egg white followed by the rest. Transfer to a piping bag.
Fold the crepes in half and then in half again, place these on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Open up the cavities and put two to three segments in each, pipe with the soufflé mix until full.
Place the tray quickly into the hot oven and bake for five to six minutes or until mix has risen well. Reheat the sauce.
Take out the tray and dust each pancake with icing sugar, place on serving plates and spoon a little sauce around each. Garnish with the remaining segments.