Crumpety Flapjacks

Pancakes, crêpes, crumpets, flapjacks, drop scones?! Let’s get a few things straight here…

Crêpes are the pancakes we mean when we say “flat as a pancake”. They are beautifully wafer thin and roll up with fillings such as cinnamon and sugar, maybe some syrup, and possibly a squeeze of lemon juice for added zing. They are beyond easy to whip up (but just as easy to ruin, so be careful).

Crumpets are those fat discs of batter that people with (hole phobia) would be afraid of. They are best enjoyed by melting butter onto them, maybe with a squeeze of syrup.

 

Flapjacks, are like the typical American pancake – but smaller. Americans stack the bigger ones high and have them with bacon and syrup, or you can have them stuffed with blueberries or chocolate chips. I accept people calling these pancakes as much as I accept when people still consider deep dish pizza (as opposed to thin base) to be “pizza”. Some people just prefer a thicker pancake, and we call them flapjacks. Then you get those random people from who knows where that talk about drop scones. I know this can be confusing, as these have no scones in them at all. We’ll pretend this makes sense, those individuals are gradually fading out of society, so we’ll just let them stay in their alternate reality until they are no longer around to confuse people.

Then we have those who just need to acknowledge their wrongness. Those who think that chewy oat squares, what we call “Crunchies” in South Africa, are “flapjacks”. I’m sorry, but how now??? Please can someone explain how this biscuit is the same as a pancake in any which way? I am willing to accept defeat if there is some logical explanation behind this madness.

At the end of the day, however, they are all absolutely, completely, resolutely delicious, and the possibilities for making them even more exciting are endless. So whichever is your favourite, keep on loving the batter, and let me know which it is in the comments below.

Crumpets

Ingredients

• ½ cup flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2ml baking powder
• 1 egg
• Approx. 125ml milk
• 5ml melted butter

Method:

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together
2. Make a well in flour mixture with a wooden spoon, and add the egg
3. Slowly work in enough milk to only wet the mixture. Tilt the bowl on its side and beat (slap) until there are no more lumps
4. Melt the butter and add to the mixture
5. Gradually add enough milk to form a pouring batter
6. Heat pan to medium heat and spray with non-stick spray (or light coating of oil)
7. Pour in spoonfuls at a time. When bubbles appear, turn over with a palette knife

Peach smoothie

So, I made a smoothie today. Well, it was supposed to be a smoothie. It’s delicious and super simple, but I don’t know if it has a weird texture because I’m used to drinking smoothies with a straw and not a spoon or if it is just super thick.

It would make an awesome pudding, like some sort of healthy custard. Or if you froze it, it would make an amazingly creamy ice cream… But I felt like a smoothie, so I put it in a glass and ate it with a spoon and pretended it wasn’t 4 degrees outside (does that weather honestly even look that cold? It’s so deceiving!).

Peach smoothie – serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 can of peach slices (in syrup), prefrozen the day before (decanted and frozen, not frozen in the can)
• 2 bananas
• Some milk – about 100ml or more, depending on the consistency you’d prefer (add slowly to figure this out for yourself)

Method

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth and creamy
2. Yum (that’s a step right?)

3-Ingredient Bar One Cupcakes

Note: this definitely classifies as one of my “Sweet Experiments”, but it is more of an adaptation of another recipe rather than being made according to an actual recipe. It is based on a recipe for 3-ingredient Nutella brownies that I found on Pinterest, but I am not sure on the actual origin, so I can only direct you here. So I bring to you 3-Ingredient Bar One Cupcakes.

Teddy awaits a gorgeous Bar One Cupcake. He needed some new love…

I followed the same recipe of 1 cup of chocolate-y-ness, 10tbsp flour, and two eggs, but this time it was more challenging. The bar one has to be melted down first, in order for it to be mixed into batter form.

Melty melty Bar Ones. I id it as a Bain-Marie, but with the milk you could probably get away with using a microwave, just don’t burn that delicious chocolate

Some milk is also added so that it keeps its more liquid consistency, which makes the stirring in of the other ingredients easier. Then the flour is added while the melted Bar Ones are still quite warm and runny. This also gives the mixture an opportunity for the mixture to cool down a bit before adding the eggs, to avoid a scrambled egg effect.

This is the chocolate that you must make sure you do not eat. You need it for the recipe. Just keep reminding yourself of that. Trust me, I understand the temptation. This is basically the colour of the completed batter as well

They rise in quite an interesting way as well. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn, and make sure your pan is well-prepared for all that melted chocolate

They turned out quite nice, but not as sweet and moist as I had expected. Bearing this in mind, I had a similar outcome when attempting the Nutella version: the muffin/brownie is kind of dry. The end outcome is a subtle chocolate muffin, nothing too special about the flavour, apart from the obvious Bar One undertones in the chocolate flavour of the muffin, which was nice, obviously. It’s a good thing that the muffin itself is not too sweet though…

Check out those sexy muffin-bottoms! Quite an interesting and unintentional effect

The real star of the show is the Bar One sauce/”frosting”. It’s very sweet, which offsets the subtle muffin and gives the whole thing a really great taste experience. It also adds some texture to the cupcake, and a lot stickier than your conventional frosting. It’s absolutely amazing, in fact.

A simple cupcake with the best sauce-y frosting you could ask for. No wonder Rainbow Teddy has a smile on his face

Please note though, that this recipe makes a humble 6 cupcakes, which is fine if you’re baking for yourself to eat, right? So be sure to double the recipe if it is meant for sharing.

3-Ingredient Bar One Cupcakes 

Makes 6 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 250 g Melted Bar Ones
• 30 ml Milk
• 10 tbsp flour
• 2 large eggs
• 50 g melted Bar Ones with dash of milk for the icing

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius, and line a muffin tray
2. Melt the Bar Ones to a very runny consistency, adding the milk as the mixture requires (it helps to have the milk in early so that stirring is easier)
3. Remove the melted chocolate and add the flour, mixing until all the flour is well mixed (should not have any white bits visible – a nice smooth consistency). Let mixture cool slightly (must still be runny)
4. Add the eggs and stir vigorously until ingredients are thoroughly mixed together
5. Spoon mixture into prepared tray, and bake for 15-20 minutes (be sure not to let muffin edges brown – this will produce a very dry muffin)
6. Remove muffins and let them cool
7. Melt remaining 50g of Bar One with a dash of milk (about a tablespoon), stirring continuously to get a smooth mixture
8. Pour Bar One sauce over muffins. Don’t be too generous as the sauce runs eagerly to the sides of the muffin