Pretty berry pancakes

I prefer to mix the ingredients for pancakes the old fashioned way by hand, that way I don’t fully break up the whisked egg whites which helps to keep the pancakes light but you could plonk all ingredients into a blender and blitz briefly. Personally, I can’t be doing with cleaning the blender after! But up to you.

Ingredients

For the pancakes

250g plain flour

a pinch of salt

1 tbs baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

500 ml buttermilk

To Fry:

100ml light oil or butter

For the Berries

120g blueberries

120g raspberries

To serve

Cream or Greek Yoghurt, optional

Maple Syrup, optional

For Frying

Sunflower oil

Makes 10 - 12

In a 20 cm frying pan

Method

To make the pancake mixture, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the caster sugar.

Lightly whisk the egg yolks and combine them with the buttermilk and sugar.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and slowly pour in the wet ingredients bringing in the dry, a little at a time till incorporated and smooth.

This part can easily be done in a blender.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl, until they form stiff peaks, then slide them out of the bowl with a rubber spatula and gently fold them into the pancake mixture.

Wipe or brush a little oil onto a small (20 cm) non - stick or well seasoned pancake pan and heat till very hot.

Use a standard ladle to measure the correct amount into the pan.

Stud the uncooked side with a mix of blueberries and raspberries, about 5 of each.

Let sit undisturbed for about a minute or till the surface is marked with holes all over, rather like a crumpet, a sign that the pancake needs turning over. Do this with a wide plastic spatula or fish slice.

Cook on the other side, pressing down gently with whatever implement you are using to flip the pancake, again for something like a minute.

Turn out onto a waiting plate and cover with a square of baking parchment.

Then move on to the next pancake. And the next, till all the mixture is used up.

Keep warm by covering with a cloth.

Serve immediately, either quite plain – they have quite a lot going for them already, or with cream or Greek Yoghurt, a little maple syrup, if you like and extra berries.