Sunday, May 3, 2009

Mini Pancakes


The first weekend we can eat brunch outside is absolutely a reason to make something more exciting than eggs or granola. Though heating up the kitchen to make pancakes is not an ideal summer activity, I think warm pancakes on the first day you can sit outside with nothing more than a cardigan is the perfect small celebration. 

Pancakes without butter used to seem a little sacrilegious to me and indeed I do miss it. I have found that frying the pancakes in a slightly upsetting amount of oil renders these little cakes quite crisp and distracts me and most guests from the absence of animal fat. 

The inclusion of Bird's Custard Powder in with the dry ingredients is one I make quite often in baking. It offsets the rice-y-ness of the flour and adds a touch of sweetness. Don't be alarmed that it turns your pancakes slightly yellow, the flavor it adds is absolutely worth it and yellow is a beautiful color to offset blueberries or raspberries against, which I will do when they are finally in season here. 

INGREDIENTS: 

1 cup rice flour (or whatever you prefer)
1 tb. Bird's Custard Powder
pinch salt
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tb. white sugar
1 egg (if you don't want to use the egg, add more baking powder)
3 tbs. canola oil
1 cup water or soy milk

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the flour, custard powder, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl.  Add the egg and then the oil and water. Adjust the amount of liquid and flour to taste. It should be quite runny. On an oiled, heated skillet ladle out whatever size you wish. I prefer mini ones to maximize the amount of maple syrup I can use, but those who do not view pancakes as a vehicle for their toppings might try a larger size. Like a regular pancake these will bubble up when they are ready to be flipped and take little more than a few minutes. I often find the first one to be a bit of a disaster, but its broken, half-cooked bits are the perfect snack while I prepare the rest.

2 comments:

  1. Bird's Custard Powder? I'm all ears.

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  2. Hi Laurelvb: It's a British product originally and was only available in Canada until a few years ago, from what I understand. Traditionally it's for making hard or soft custard sauces with heated milk and a bit of sugar.

    It has no wheat or dairy in it so I add it to alot of baking to moderate some of the heavy, dull, flavor zapping characteristics of non-wheat flours. It definitely has a sweetness to it, so you couldn't use it in savory cooking. It also definitely makes things a bit yellow as you can see! It really punches up pound cakes, angel food, and white cakes and also takes some of the edge off of recipes that include tofu.

    What are you thinking of using it for?

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