Farmer's Cottage Pancakes.

Chefs Note - When I go into the kitchen with guns blazing the last thing I want to be doing is touching my phone. And yet almost ironically the internet is a haven for recipes and the temptation is forever present. As this is the case, I have taken it upon myself to try and remember certain recipes straight off the top of my noggin. After all, the last thing anyone really wants to be doing is handling their phone followed by ingredients. Smart phones may be one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century but they have no place in the kitchen. Remy from Pixar's Ratatouille wouldn't approve and neither do I. Don't get me wrong, having The Goldbergs playing on my phone while I am cooking is one thing, but I am a stern believer that the phone itself should never be handled whilst cooking. This is sacrilegious! Any who, after that rant, here is my easy recipe for Farmer's Cottage Pancakes.

Farmer's Cottage Pancakes.

Ingredients

1 Egg
3 cups of full cream milk
2 1/2 cups of self raising flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Butter

1 - While preparing the mixture add a large frying pan to the stove top on medium heat.
2 - Sift the two and a half cups of flour, one third cup of white sugar and one quarter teaspoon of baking powder together into a large bowl. Repeat this sifting process multiple times, (sometimes I do this six or seven times). The more air you put into the mix the fluffier the pancakes will become. I use two bowls to do this. I simply sift out of one bowl and into the other. Then I repeat and repeat and repeat and you get the idea...
3- (Milk Mix) Whisk the egg, 2 - 1/2 cups of milk and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract together in a smaller bowl, this is your milk mix.
4 - Make a hole (well) in the centre of the flour mix (larger bowl) and add the milk mix. Now whisk to your heart's content. The mixture should be a smooth batter by the time you have finished (no lumps). I do this by hand but you can use whatever method you see fit.
5 - Add butter to the preheated frying pan. One or two tablespoons should be plenty to coat the entire surface of the pan. This process will need to be repeated between each batch as the cakes will soak the butter up like the little fluffy butter thieves that they are. Now use a large cooking spoon to dish out the mixture into the frying pan. The more mixture you add to a pancake, the larger it is. If you want to go completely crazy add all the mixture to the frying pan to make one giant moon cake (good luck flipping it). Now that your mixture is in the frying pan wait until you start to see bubbles appearing through the batter mix. Don't panic this is simply the heat trying to escape from under the cakes. It is at this point that you will want to flip your pancakes over. Don't leave your pancakes sitting on the same side for too long as they will burn... To add even more flavour to the pancakes I try to butter the pan between flips, this ensures both sides of the cakes turn golden and tasty.
6 - I like to serve my pancakes with real butter and real maple syrup. I include other condiments on the table, such as raspberry and strawberry jam, treacle (golden syrup) and honey but the maple syrup bottle is always half empty by the time breakfast is over, clearly the favorite.

I hope you enjoy!