Pancakes with a Blueberry Compote

Hello readers, old and new!

Today, I present to you the humble pancake. I don't know anyone who doesn't love a good pancake. The morning I made this, I woke up thinking, TODAY, THERE WILL BE PANCAKES!

Before coming to England I thought all pancakes were like the 'American' kind; to my surprise, on Pancake Day (yes, Pancake Day!) in my first year at uni, I was greeted at breakfast by a rather thin, crepe looking English pancake. Nothing against that. They're nice and tasty, but my first instinct when it comes to pancakes is to make the fluffy pudgier kind.

I got the recipe for the batter off the BBC Good Food page for American blueberry pancakes. Unfortunately, we didn't really have that many blueberries at hand, so instead of mixing them into the batter, I made a blueberry compote. 

To make the compote, I just threw in some blueberries, a bit of water and honey into a sauce pan - then let everything stew and simmer for a bit. Once the balance of sweet and sour is to your liking, it's ready! Ta-dah! Compote of blueberries. 

The blueberries go all squishy when you boil them so I saved some fresh to just place on top of the squishy ones for more texture and zing.

I have to say, they were pretty damn good pancakes. I made mini ones that fit into a side plate, but you can of course make great big ones that fit a trampoline - if you so desired.

But I don't know, do you prefer American or English pancakes?



P.S. If you would like to know when Pancake Day is, you can have a look at isitpancakeday.com :D
P.P.S You can now follow this blog via the Facebook page!


Ingredients

• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• knob butter
• 150g pack blueberries
• sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
• golden or maple syrup

Method

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.
   
2. Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.