Sunday 14 August 2011

Blueberry American Pancakes

****If you stumbles across here because of pancake day, here are 10 facts I found out, courtesy of *ahem* The Mirror. Full link here*****

1. The first recorded pancake race was in Olney, Buckinghamshire in England in 1445.
2. The first pancake recipe appeared in an English cookbook in the 15th century. And it’s a tradition that continues all over England. It is said to have originated in Olney as a housewife was so busy making pancakes that she forgot the time. When she heard the church bells ringing for mass she ran out of her house, still carrying her pan and pancake. Olrney still has a pancake race every year.
3. The largest number of pancakes tossed in the shortest amount of time is 349 tosses in two minutes, which was achieved by Dean Gould at Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1995.
4. The longest race in the quickest time was held in Melbourne, Australia. Jan Stickland covered 384m in 59.5  seconds on 19 February 1985.
5. The largest pancake ever made and flipped measured 15.01m wide, 2.5cm deep and weighed 3 tonnes. It was made in Rochdale, Greater Manchester during August 1994.
6. It is customary in France to touch the handle of the frying pan and make a wish while the pancake is turned, holding a coin in one hand.
7. On Pancake Day in Newfoundland, Canada people place items in the pancake batter before it is cooked to tell the future for family members. If it happens that boy receives item for a trade, it means he will enter the trade but if a girls receives item from a trade, it means she will marry a person from trade.
8. Maple Syrup was originally a sweet drink, discovered by the Algonquin Indians who collected sap from Canadian sugar maple trees and then boiled to produce the delicious beverage.
9. Taking the easy way to make your pancakes is not a new thing. The first ready-mix food which was sold  ommercially was Aunt Jemima pancake flour. It was invented in 1889  in St. Joseph, Missouri. It wasn’t very popular at the beginning.
10. Pancake Tuesday is known as Carnivale in Italy which comes from the Latin for ‘goodbye to the flesh’.

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I decided one weekend to go all out, and cook breakfast. It took two hours. Two hours of my precious weekend time when I can have a lie in and don't have to think about stocks or exchange rates and stress about the red numbers on the computer screen.
...nope, I think I was still doing that. Its's an infection! Like chicken pox!
But it never goes away!!!




I think you can tell that this internship is driving me a little crazy. Probably doesn't help that everyone I live with is also doing an internship and working (much more) crazier hours than me. I do, however, want a job offer. Like, really bad. Really really bad. And it's coming to the end of my internship. I have my final presentation next week and I'm supposed to talk and present on 'where I add value to the bank'. But what can I say that makes me stand out?

WELL, I can solve a Rubik's cube in 2 minutes. When I showed my team, they were pretty impressed. Who cares about your knowledge about hedge funds when you can solve the ass out of that Rubik's cube?
I didn't think so either.

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But anyway, that day, I got given some beautiful sunflowers in the morning, and I was in a good mood. And everyone knows good mood + breakfast = pancakes + maple syrup, so here we were!

And then we ate them all. And we saw that it was good.


p.s. Also just wanted to say that it took a while to cook, because I cooked a big load and could only cook them in batches, and only had 2 pans. So I recommend that if you are cooking a lot to use all of the hobs and pans available to you. After all, more pans = more pancakes - long cooking time. I'd like to think it's an exponential relationship.

American Blueberry Pancakes
Recipe from BBC Good Food

Prep time: about 30 minutes
Cooking time: varies depending on how many pans you have

200g/1½ cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
300ml/1 cup milk
knob butter
150g pack blueberries
sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
golden or maple syrup

Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.

Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter. Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.

35 comments:

  1. Rubik's Cube under two minutes? I would totally employ you! What is the bank waiting for?? These look brilliant by the way- definitely worth the two hours!

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  2. Lovely pancake with blueberry, yum yum

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  3. Thought I'm impressed by your beautiful, delicious pancakes, I'm more impressed by your Rubik's cube dexterity!

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  4. blueberry pancakes is a classic! they look beautiful! hahah pancakes require a bit of time to make, but well worth it. i love topping mine with strawberry jam (instead of the traditional maple syrup!)

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  5. You will win the presentation because of this blog! Steven Johnson argues that the world's best creative geniuses came up with successful innovations because they had several hobbies and side interests, which meant they could make connections between lots of different fields: http://blog.800ceoread.com/2010/12/28/interviewing-steven-johnson-where-good-ideas-come-from/

    Good luck!

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  6. haha reminds me of me since I was working in a hedge fund while in the US - ugh but exciting too (at times!)..love the blueberry pancakes btw! Cooking was kinda like therapy for me (apart from shopping that is!) :D

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  7. Wishing you lots of luck with the job offer. These pancakes look perfect :)

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  8. Nice looking pancakes ;-)) very soft and fluffy.

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  9. Thanks for all of your kind comments and good lucks - especially Miss Piggy: unfortunately my presentation has to be about what I learnt on my banking internship, so I can't talk about this blog, although I'd love to!

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  10. Delicious looking pancakes - I just made some myself as I had a craving. Next time I'll add blueberries to the batter. Good luck with your presentation.

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  11. Solving Rubiks in under 2 minutes has to be a world record! Awesome!

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  12. I really like the Sunflower, it reminds me of my childhood at my nana's place.

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  13. Delicious looking pancake! Good luck with your presentation, don't worry too much, I'm sure there will be offers knocking at your door soon! Then you will be "spoilt for choice", undecided which one to accept! :)

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  14. WOW!! I always have a thing for pancakes! YOurs just perfect! Need to try this soon! Thanks dear!

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  15. One of my favorite classic American breakfasts -- looks so good. And pretty sunflowers, too!

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  16. Sunflowers always put me in a good mood.
    Bake some cakes and put them on the table for people to enjoy while you're doing your presentation - firstly, it will make you memorable, secondly, it will give your audience something else to concentrate on meaning they won't be staring at you all the time!

    I work in a bank in the city and the thing that has got people to chat to me more than anything else is the fact that I bring in baking on a Monday morning. Cake breaks down all barriers!

    BTW, love your new banner - I want to live on that lane!

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  17. I'm afraid to say I've never actually had bluberry pancakes!!! I can see I've been missing out!!!

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  18. But cooking breakfast is therapeutic!! Isn't it?

    Sounds like your life is a little stressful at the moment- good luck with the job offer. We're rooting for you.

    P.s sooo impressed about the Rubik's cube. I usually resort to peeling off the stickers.

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  19. I love pancakes, but I agree...standing over the stove flipping cakes all morning really takes it out of me. But man, those look good. Maybe I should stop being so lazy in the morning...Good luck on your presentation!

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  20. The bank must be crazy not to see your lighting speed spatial skills in solving that Rubik's cube! Now just translate that to analytical skills and you're good. The pancakes looked like it was worth spending the time making!

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  21. Wooaaa thats super cool , a rubik cube in under 2 mins man!!
    U sure are gonna land with a job ur so gng to love , totally and then u'll be so glad for this internship wont u :-)))
    THe pancakes , oh totally so worth all those pans and hobs and more :-)))

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  22. good luck with getting the job offer!

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  23. Good luck with everything at work... You can solve the Rubik's cube in 2 minutes? You'll do just fine at work, I'm sure :) The pancakes look so yummy! And I bet they made you feel much better too :) Thanks for sharing!

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  24. So delicious looking! American pancakes are to die for, especially that version.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  25. These look delicious. It is always a pleasure to visit here. You've created a lovely spot for your readers to visit and your food and recipes are always terrific. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  26. Very nice pancakes and great job with Rubik's cube! Very impressive. :)

    http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/

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  27. OMG! You can solve a Rubik's cube in less than 2 mins. I would totally challenge you.

    Good luck on your internship and presentation. Practice makes good presentation... When I gave my talk in Cambridge, there were 3 Nobel laureates in the audience. It made me even more stressful.

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  28. Mmmm i love blueberry pancakes, they are the best thing ever! so much better than regular pancakes :) when do you go back to cambridge? i got my place at oxford :D

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  29. Beautiful flowers, beautiful fluffy pancakes, it all looks so lovely :D. I've never solved a rubik's cube. I used to take off the stickers and put them on again so it looked like I solved it-- but i never actually did. It was just too frustrating!
    *kisses* HH

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  30. I commend you for making a weekend breakfast - After all the weekday cooking I do, that's my husband's job and there's no change in routine, usually. These pancakes look wonderful and delicious, though, and you did a great job! Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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  31. I just love pancakes for breakfast! These look perfect!

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  32. Hey! I have missed reading your posts. Sorry I haven't been in touch for a while! This breakfast looks absolutely DELICIOUS. I feel like making pancakes now..even though its 10pm at night.

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  33. I wish I could solve the Rubik's cube...lol That thing has bugged me since I was a teen.

    I love blueberry pancakes. Yours look yummy"_

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  34. Ahhh one of my favorite pancakes and I'm about to go to bed hungry, dreaming of this. Too bad I don't have time in the morning to make this during weekday. :-(

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