Flipping Healthy Pancakes !

This year, Shrove Tuesday falls on 8th March so get your pancake recipes ready! Quick and easy to make, children and adults alike will enjoy eating them and flipping them too. Pancakes with lemon and sugar is still the most popular way to serve up a treat on Shrove Tuesday, but there are many deliciously, tasty ways to ring the changes (see further recipes below, courtesy of FryLight).

 Frylight explain that you can also make your pancakes healthier by using their 1-cal cooking spray. They say : "One easy adaptation to the way you actually cook the batter, can make all the difference. For the very best results, swap your butter or cooking oil for a couple of sprays of FryLight to reduce the fat content (1 tablespoon of cooking oil provides 120 calories, so that one-calorie-per-spray FryLight can save hundreds of calories at the press of a button) which, in turn, will help avoid an often heavy, greasy or rubbery texture, keeping the batter light and airy. Whether or not you are watching your fat or calorie intake, FryLight is the key to foolproof pancakes and not just on Shrove Tuesday!"

Whether or not you give Frylight a go, let me tempt you with these simple but delicious pancake recipes, courtesy of FryLight.

 

Traditional Pancakes with lemon and sugar

Serves 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

115g plain flour

1 large egg

300ml semi skimmed milk

FryLight Sunflower Oil

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the egg. Gradually whisk in the milk to make a smooth batter.

2. Using a non-stick 18cm (7") frying pan, spray with a sweeping action for even coverage with 2 sprays of Fry Light. Place the pan over a medium high heat until hot, then pour in about 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan. Tilt the pan to make sure the batter covers the whole base of the pan evenly. Cook over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes until all the liquid batter has completely set and is golden brown. Turn and cook the other side for about 30 seconds until golden.

3. Repeat step 2 until all the batter has been used, making 8 pancakes.

4. Serve with lemon juice and sugar, or your favourite topping or filling. Maple syrup is an ideal accompaniment and tinned fruit such as cherries works well.

Cook's tip: to add flavour to the batter add the grated rind of an orange, or ½ lemon plus ½ tsp ground cinnamon, to the flour before mixing

Nutritional values per portion: Calories: 90; Fat: 3g, of which saturates per portion: 1g

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American Style Blueberry Pancakes - makes 12 small ones

Serves 4

120g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

FryLight Sunflower Oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

150ml semi-skimmed milk

200g blueberries

1 medium orange

2 tbsp runny honey

1. To make batter, put the flour, baking powder caster sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and milk into a bowl, beat to make a thick and smooth batter. Whisk the egg whites until stiff then carefully fold into the batter with 75g of the blueberries. Set aside

2. Grate the zest from the orange into a small pan, add the juice and honey. Bring to simmer and cook until syrupy, add the rest of the blueberries and cook for 3-4 minutes until they release some juice and just begin to soften. Remove from the heat.

3. To cook the pancakes, warm a large flat non-stick frying pan. Spray a few times with FryLight® then drop 4-5 tablespoons of the mixture into the pan. Cook over a medium heat 3-4 minutes until the underside is golden brown and set. Turn the pancakes over and cook the other side until golden. Re-spray the pan with FryLight® and repeat the cooking method with the rest of the batter.

4. Serve the pancakes with the blueberry sauce drizzled over.

Nutritional values per portion: 95 calories; 3.5g fat, of which 0.5g saturated fat

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Chocolate and Orange Pancakes

Serves 4

90 g plain flour

20g cocoa powder

25g caster sugar

1 large egg

300ml semi skimmed milk

½ tsp vanilla essence

FryLight® Sunflower Oil

Filling:

2 medium oranges

250g tub ricotta cheese

25g plain chocolate, grated

25g sugar

1. Make the filling: grate the zest from 1 of the oranges into a bowl.

2. Cut away the peel and pith from both oranges and cut into segments, allowing the juice to drip into the bowl, but put the segments on a plate to one side. Beat the ricotta into the orange rind and juice until smooth and fold in the grated chocolate.

3. To make the pancakes sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl, add the sugar. Beat the egg, milk and vanilla extract together then add to the dry ingredients and whisk to make a smooth batter.

4. To cook the pancakes, warm a non-stick frying pan spray about 5 times with FryLight® then pour in a very large tablespoon of batter which should be enough just to cover the base thinly, tilt the pan to evenly distribute the batter. Place on the hob and cook over a medium hot setting.

5. When the edges are golden and the batter looks set, toss or turn with a palette knife and cook the other side about 1 minute until golden. Remove from the pan and keep warm

6. Lift the pan off the hob, re-spray with FryLight® and add another spoonful of batter, after tilting the pan, set back on the hob to cook. Continue cooking the pancakes in this way until all the batter is used.

7. Place a tablespoon of the ricotta fill onto each pancake and either roll up or fold into a cornet, decorate each with 2 orange segments.

Nutritional values per portion: 358 calories; Fat: 14g per portion, of which 7.5g saturated fat

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Cherry Pancakes

Serves 4

50g plain white flour

75g buckwheat flour

1 large egg

300ml semi-skimmed milk

FryLight® Sunflower Oil

For the fruit filling:

120ml medium dry white wine

25g fruit sugar

250g fresh cherries

2 tsp arrowroot

For the pancakes:

1. Put the white wine, 4 tbsp water and sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, reduce to simmer 2-3 minutes. Stone the cherries, halve then add to the syrup and poach for 2 minutes.

2. Blend the arrowroot with a tablespoon of water and stir into the cherries, bring to the boil and stir until the syrup thickens.

3. To make the pancakes, put the flours into a bowl, beat in the egg and a little milk with a wooden spoon. Gradually beat in the remaining milk until a smooth batter forms. Alternatively put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and whiz to make the batter.

4. Heat a small non-stick frying pan, spray about 6 times with FryLight® then pour in enough batter to thinly coat the base of the pan. Cook over a medium high heat until golden brown and turn over and cook the other side. Turn the pancake onto a plate, keep warm. Repeat the process until all the batter is used and 8 pancakes are made.

5. Serve the pancakes with the warm cherry sauce

Nutritional values per portion: 266 cals; 4g fat, of which 1.5g sat'd fat

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Hale & Hearty 4 Grain Pancake Mix

Whole Earth Organic Peanut Butter

Wild & Wonderful Alaska Seafood recipes

Some weird and wonderful recipes from Rude Health for Breakfast Week !