This is another of JJ's Graphic Recipes that was voted on to my tea towels made last month.
These pancakes make me think of Sunday mornings when I was growing up (although in the US, pancakes get made with Bisquick, a sort of self-raising flour mix with added salt and oil that comes in a box. My dad would sometimes put in a bit of nutmeg, which I didn't think to draw, and I'd sometimes include raisins which might be just a bit weird. As always, these recipes are just guidelines to be played with.
And speaking of playing, we often dropped a few dots or squiggles or backwards letter shapes in the pan to turn brown first, before covering with a full ladleful of batter. My dad started it by presenting pancakes with our initials to my sister and me, and of course I've done the same for my boys. You can see this taken to wonderfully silly and amazing extremes by googling pancake art - seriously!
The day I realised that 'pancakes' dont mean the same thing here in the UK was when I went to a Pancake Day dinner at a friend's house and was surprised to find she'd left out the baking powder and they were coming out all flat... Anyway, my version does exist as well, but is called a drop scone or Scotch pancake, though those seem to have a smaller diameter and aim for max height.
Whatever the terms are, they're delicious, very easy, take very little time to make and are a good fun way for kids to get involved in cooking, too. You can buy the tea towels here if you like, or see the original booklet they were printed in last summer. And do let me know if you like making them!
