I have never been a great pikelet maker, they’re either too thick and chewy, or the mixture is too runny.  I also tend to burn them a lot, plus you have to stand around for a while waiting for each batch to bubble, then you flip them over and wait some more.  Overall, it just didn’t seem worth it…….until the other day that is.  You see I have this great pancake recipe in an old Family Circle Pancakes, Pikelets, Crepes and Waffles book.  It never fails me, and everyone raves about my pancakes (a quick boast there!), so I thought I would give their Pikelets recipe a try.  The truth is I am sick of paying for pikelets on tuckshop day when I know it would be so much cheaper to make them myself.  “Dive in Bek” I thought “give it one last go”.  And guess what……they were perfect.  So perfect in fact that I quadrupled the recipe with success.  No, we don’t eat that many pikelets at once, but they freeze well, and with a family of eight one batch goes nowhere.  I didn’t want to stand around in my kitchen forever so I used two electric frying pans and by the time I had finished unpacking the days lunch boxes and re-packing them for the next day, my pikelets were done.  And  when they say you only need to use one level tablespoon of batter for each pikelet, they mean it.  They were the perfect size.  I have always doubted that part, one tablespoon just sounds inadequate for a decent sized pikelet.  I am definitely going to make this recipe again (quadrupled) and freeze some for those hectic days when I am short on lunch box supplies.

Ingredients:

1 Cup (125g) Self-Raising Flour

Pinch of Salt

1 Tbl Caster Sugar (mine wasn’t Caster)

3/4 Cup (185ml) Milk

1 Egg

Jam and Freshly Whipped Cream to serve  Yum!

Directions:

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Whisk the milk and egg in a jug and slowly pour into the well, whisking to form a smooth batter.

Heat a frying pan (a non-stick pan is best, if you have one) and brush lightly with melted butter or oil.

Drop level tablespoonsful of the batter into the frying pan, allowing room for spreading.

Cook the pikelets over moderate heat for about 30 seconds, or until small bubbles begin to appear on the surface and the underneath has turned golden brown.

Turn the pikelets over and cook the other side.

Transfer to a plate or wire rack to cool.

Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

Serve the pikelets topped with jam and freshly whipped cream, unless you are packing them in a lunch box, in which case you will probably want to skip the cream.