Cherry Pancakes

American style pancakes are my weekend breakfast of choice, even above a bacon sandwich.  I know, hard to believe.  I used to make sugar free versions of these when my son was little but these little beauties are a delicious concoction of defrosted cherries making a vibrant lilac batter drizzled with syrup and topped with butter.

I should explain; yesterday I ran for 7.5 miles.  My previous maximum was 6.4 miles and that felt hard.  I ended up on the sofa last night, aching and then slept for 8.5 hours and felt like I could have slept for a few more.  Sometimes you need a breakfast which is better for the soul than the body and sometimes you need to say "I need a rest day"!

I've made a decent amount of batter for these; the good news is they freeze brilliantly.  Reheat gently in a microwave or in a non stick frying pan (taking care not to burn), alternatively it works just as well if you halve the recipe.


Cherry Pancakes - Makes easily enough for 3 but they freeze well

Ingredients

For the batter
225g, 8oz Self Raising flour (or plain / all purpose flour with 2 tsp baking powder)
2 eggs
300ml, 10fl oz Milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g, about 3.5 ounces of pitted cherries (buy frozen as not only are they cheap and available all year round but they're pitted for you)
2 tsp sugar

Butter for cooking
Syrup or honey and butter to serve

Method

Defrost the cherries if frozen.  Put all of the batter ingredients into a jug blender and blend until fully mixed and the cherries have made the mixture look like the girliest milkshake ever.

Heat a frying pan and (carefully) rub with butter.  I do as my Mum would and use a piece of butter in some greaseproof paper but there is a risk of burning your hands if you're not quick.  Alternatively, use spray oil which also works really well.

Pour in some batter, don't worry if the first one while you're getting the temperature right isn't a success, this often happens.  When the top of the pancakes are bubbling and the bubbles are popping, flip over.  If the bottom side is burned, the heat is too high.

You can see on the photo above that the one on the right was the one I poured in first, the bubbles have burst and the pancake is starting to look set at the edge, it's time to flip this one.  By the time you've flipped that, the second one (top left) will be ready to flip and the last one (bottom) will be a few seconds later.  Once you get the hang of it, it's very easy.

Cook on the second side until done.  Serve with your choice of accompaniments.

Freeze in a plastic tub, interleave the pancakes with non stick baking paper and then it's easier to get them out one by one as you want.  Try not to eat too many.  My limit is about 6 but my 4 year old can eat 9 of these pancakes!