Velvet Antlers Power Pancakes

After many requests we have finally given in - here is the recipe for our killer pancakes. These started off as my baby, a breakfast I made regularly for Dave which I gathered from an old book of Scottish recipes from Skye. The original recipe was for traditional Scottish Drop Scones (many small pancakes). I experimented with the vanilla (a favourite of mine) but stuck firmly to making the small drop scones - perfect for eating with one hand with a mouse in the other. But after Dave liked them so much for climbing fuel and took up the pancake mantle, he opted for more American style large pancakes.

This is a simple recipe, so where can you go wrong? Don't underestimate the effect of flour quality! Our wisdom garnered from the glitterati of Scottish cooking has led us to McDougalls flour in the UK. Try it back to back with the supermarket's own brand flour lurking in your cupboard and be amazed! Laterally, Dave experienced new levels of fluffiness using Spanish flour, which he attributed to higher levels of raising agent. Since then we've experimented with adding a smidgen (if you are not familiar with this standard Scottish unit of measurement click here) of baking soda to achieve new levels of fluff.

Ingredients

4oz the best self-raising flour you can get your hands on (wholemeal is nice too)

1oz caster sugar

1/4 pint milk

1 medium egg

1 dribble of vanilla extract

optional smidgen of baking soda

Seive the flour into a bowl and add the sugar and baking soda. beat the egg into the milk and vanilla and add to the dry mix. Stir until you ave a smooth batter, adding more wee drops of milk if it's too thick.

Spoon into a hot pan (with a little sunflower oil) if making drop scones of pour straight from the bowl for big panakes. Serve up with maple syrup, jam, butter, bacon, fruit or whatever takes your fancy...

Then have a good day.