A Week Full of Baking

Last week was deliciously full of baking.

Starting on Shrove Tuesday, one of the eatery highlights of our year, Edward and I did it full justice by eating an obscene amount of batter.  Despite pancake day having been and gone due to my slowness at getting the blog going, I will share the recipes with you none the less, as the drop scones are delicious all year round, perfect after a long walk with a cup of tea, or for breakfast.  Actually, I don't know why I'm finding reasons, who needs an excuse to eat pancakes?!

Drop Scones

9oz/225g Self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1oz/30g caster sugar

1tbsp golden syrup

2 eggs, beaten

275ml milk

Sift together flour, baking powder and sugar.  Add golden syrup, eggs and milk and whisk until batter is fairly thick and smooth ( double cream sort of consistency).  Bear in mind that the batter will thicken a little if you leave it to stand and you might need to add a little more milk.

Heat a frying pan or griddle with a little lard or oil in, until a drop of water spits when dropped on.  Drop tablespoonfuls of the batter in the pan well spaced apart and cook on a moderate heat until bubbles appear on the surface, then turn them over and cook for a few minutes on the other side until golden.

The batter-thickness test is when you spoon the batter into the pan, it should spread to about 0.5cm thick.  If the batter is too thick, the pancakes wont cook well in the centre.

Serve hot or cold with the topping of your choice!  To keep them warm, put the pancakes on some kitchen roll on a plate, cover with another piece of kitchen roll and place in a warm oven.

Too impatient to wait for supper, we started on the pancakes at tea time and nibbled on hot drop scones with lots of melted butter and home made blackcurrant jam.

We were then able to just about wait until supper, whereupon we stuffed them American style, with bacon and maple syrup.

Then to France for some 'Crepes' for pudding, lots, and dripping with lemon juice and sugar.  The recipe is a traditional French one Daddy taught me, sooo uncomplicated and always delicious!

Crepes

3 large tbsp flour

1 egg

milk

optional splash of beer

Place the flour in a large jug or bowl, add the egg and a large splosh of milk.  Start whisking, adding more milk as you incorporate the flour, until you have a single cream consistency.

Don't panic if there are lumps, whisk away like billy-o and they will vanish.  Also then you can feel virtuous as you scoff your pancakes as your arms will ache enough to count as having had a work-out....  Add the splash of beer (optional really, but does make them lovely and light) and leave to stand for about 20 minutes.  Heat a pan with a little lard or oil, until a drop of water crackles when dripped on, and add a little more milk to the batter if it has thickened.

 Cooking the crepes: Take the frying pan in one hand, and while you pour the batter in, move the pan in your hand to spread the batter evenly.  The first pancake is usually a bit of a disaster while the frying pan realises what's going on, then the rest should be easy peasy.  Make sure the pancakes don't get too thick, add milk to the batter if necessary.

     Cook until lightly golden then flip and cook the other side.  They can be kept warm in the same way as the drop scones.  Drizzle with whatever you fancy, my favourite is fresh lemon juice and sugar.

We ate until we had reached pancake saturation, then shoved the batter in the fridge ready for breakfast.  I added sliced banana to the drop scone mix (before cooking) and we ate them hot with Nutella, which is an extremely good way to start the day.

Next baking was Thursday for Valentine's day.  I was teaching in the evening so a romantic dinner was out, so I made a little batch of biscuits to give to my lovely husband.

They lasted about 4 and a half seconds.

Finally we had some friends round for tea Saturday afternoon, and stuffed ourselves silly on a proper afternoon tea spread.  I had planned to make fondant fancies, but got this far:

and got bored.  I was covered in icing, as was most of the kitchen, and it was proving to be far more trouble than it was worth.  The rest of the tea was a success however, and a fab excuse to whip out my tea set.

Now for some exercise I think, off to continue my fight with the garden, wish me luck!