Vanilla Bean Pancakes for Two

I love Sunday morning breakfasts. I have enough time to prepare a feast for two without rushing around for uni or feeling guilty about not getting out of the house and doing something new and interesting. Sundays are my lazy day. Sunday is pancake day. Or more precisely, Vanilla Bean Pancake day... mmmmmm






In true lazy day fashion, I like to make these in my jimmy jams. I even coordinate them with my skillet. I joke, that was not intentional at all. I promise. A happy coincidence!

These pancakes contain wholewheat flour for guilt-free-face-stuffing and so fill you up right until lunch time. This recipe is also another way to make use of the lovely punnets of strawberries readily available at the moment. These photos are from last Sunday's pancakes, this morning we had them with pineapple, mango and banana - tropical pancakes if you will!

And just look at how incredibly tasty and delicious (not to mention moreish) they look with maple syrup drizzled all over them mmmm

The vanilla bean paste adds an extra dimension to the flavour of the pancakes and somehow makes them sweeter, so removes the need to sprinkle them in copious amounts of sugar like I ALWAYS have to with your run of the mill pancake.

These pancakes are so satisfyingly light and fluffy and full of goodness that they would be a sure bet to serve up at brunch get-togethers with family and friends. Don't tell them about the vanilla bean paste and see if they can guess your secret ingredient ;) (and obviously double/triple/whatever you see fit the mixture, but you already know that, how insulting of me!)

Ingredients

makes two monstrous stacks of pancakes

35 g plain flour
35 g wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 small egg
1/3 tsp vanilla bean paste
130 ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)

Directions

1. Sift in flours and baking powder.
2. Add egg and milk and whisk then add the vanilla bean paste.
3. Whisk well until smooth and slightly frothy.
4. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet or heavy-bottomed frying pan. When very hot pour the batter in 3" diameter circles onto the pan and fry until air pockets appear on the top side, flip and fry until cooked on that side - a minute or so should do it.
5. Serve, share, eat and ENJOY with your other half or whom ever else you want to share these fluffy delights with (it's fathers day next Sunday why not whip them up for him?), accompanied by maple syrup / honey / bananas / chopped mango / chopped pineapple / strawberries - the combinations are endless!