For those who aren’t familiar with Pikelets, these are similar to pancakes but palm sized, light and fluffy and I think tastier. Easy to make and great for breaky, brunch or an afternoon snack. You will love these.
One of my favourite kitchen smells upon waking up is the smell of pikelets cooking for breaky. If you are lucky enough to have someone make these for you then that’s great, but if not, give this recipe a go – you can't fail with my step by step easy breakdown of how to cook these. There are no fancy machines needed to make these pikelets, there aren't many ingredients, you can make them gluten free, dairy free and vegan and the ingredient substitutes for these are in the notes section towards the end of this podcast and in this episodes podcast description. They can be kept heated until you and your fam are ready to eat them. You need 40 mins available, but this includes prepping, making and cleaning up.
If you don't need these detailed instructions and are ready to cook
then scroll down to the bottom of the page for just the recipe.
1) Ok – 1st things 1st - ingredients reconnaissance. Just eyeball in your fridge and pantry to see if you have these ingredients and enough of it. Don't get them out yet - we are in the planning phase.
So do you have
· 1 cup self-raising flour
· ¼ teaspoon bi-carb soda
· 1/4 cup caster sugar
· an egg
· 3/4 cup milk
· cooking oil spray
and to go with your pikelets (your condiments) do you have
· double thick or dollop cream and strawberry or raspberry jam
· or lemon juice and white sugar
· or maple syrup
If you don't have all of these ingredients – write the missing ingredient on your list for your next shop and make the pikelets next weekend, have cereal today instead. There is no point racing to the supermarket with your messy hair, your trackie daks and ugg boots on over your jarmies just to get some flour – it’s too stressful – why bother.
2) Next - Clear the decks and feed the cat – you can’t begin until you have your house in order. What I mean by that is I have found I always make mistakes when I get distracted or work in a mess. Ok so maybe this easy recipe for pikelets won’t be a game changer but as you start to build on your cooking skills, getting your house in order is so important to successful and happy baking.
· feed the pets
· make a cuppa
· empty the dishwasher (or load it if you couldn’t be bothered the night before)
· if you have little ones, change their nappy and feed them
· check your mobile and emails if you need to
· make room on your kitchen bench – I learnt the hard way by losing a cake over the edge :( all because I refused to move the fruit bowl
· wipe down the kitchen bench
· place current dishcloth and tea towel in laundry and grab a fresh set
· wash your hands
3) Now - Grab all your ingredients and place them on the kitchen bench –
· self-raising flour
· bi-carb soda
· caster sugar
· an egg
· some milk
· and cooking oil spray such as canola
and to go with your pikelets
· double thick or dollop cream (leave in fridge until needed), strawberry or raspberry jam
· or lemon juice and white sugar
· or maple syrup
or all three of these
4) Next - grab all your equipment out
· a set of measuring cups or 3 cups that are all the same size – tea cup size not coffee mugs
· a set of measuring spoons or a teaspoon and dessert spoon
· a small mixing bowl or a cereal bowl
· a small whisk or a fork from the cutlery drawer
· a medium mixing bowl or a salad bowl or a round plastic container
· a sieve
· an electric frypan or a large skillet without lids
· a spatula
· 3 paper towels
· a serving plate - make it oven-proof if not serving up pikelets immediately - flip the plate over to read the label. If it is oven proof it will say so - if there is no label assume it can't go in the oven.
· and finally you'll need 2 sheets of aluminium foil (long enough to securely cover your serving plate filled with pikelets) - so tear those two sheets off now.
It is important to note here that this recipe uses cups and teaspoons, which is absolutely fine for this dish.
For the more experienced bakers among you – this way of
measuring is not accurate and can drastically affect your
baking outcomes. We will get into this further when other
recipes require more accurate measurements such as
grams/ounces.
5) Okay so now you are going to measure out your ingredients. This recipe serves 6 people - 3 pikelets each. If you are cooking for less then you get more than 3 pikelets each - yum
· fill 1 cup with self raising flour - level to the top of the cup
· the next cup fill a 1/4 full of castor sugar
· and fill your final cup 3/4 of the way full of milk- oh if you are using measuring cups you won't have enough cups so grab a tea cup and fill this 3/4 of the way full with milk.
· crack open 1 egg into the small mixing bowl or cereal bowl and put the shell in the bin, then lightly whisk with your whisk or fork until egg yolk has blended with the egg white. · lastly fill a 1/4 teaspoon with the bi-carb soda.
6) Now that everything is measured out you can put all of your unused ingredients away
7) So let's now prepare your mixture
Place your small mixing bowl or your cereal bowl with the egg in it and place it off to one side. Now take your large mixing bowl or salad bowl or plastic round container and place the sieve over the top of this. Tip your cup of self-raising flour and bi-carb soda in the sieve. Gently shake the sifter from side to side over the bowl until the ingredients have sifted through to the mixing bowl. Toss out any larger bits that have not sifted through. Now pop your sieve, cup and teaspoon in the sink.
Tip your sugar into the flour and stir with a whisk or desert spoon until the sugar is mixed evenly through the flour and bi-carb. Now you are going to make a well in the centre of the mixture with the back of the spoon.
Pour into this well your whisked egg and then your milk. Don’t worry if it flows out of the well. Place your egg bowl and cups in the sink.
Use the whisk or a fork to blend the ingredients all together until smooth and there are no lumps. The batter should have a porridge consistency and when you let some batter fall off the whisk or fork you should see that ribbons form on the surface and stay visible for a few seconds before disappearing into the batter.
Place whisk or fork in the sink.
Now you are going to let the batter rest on the bench for 15 mins –
- put on a timer, you don’t won’t the batter to over rest.
8) Now let's regroup and prepare for the next stage.
On your bench now you should only have
· a frypan or skillet
· a serving plate
· a spatula
· 3 paper towels
· 2 sheets of foil to cover serving plate securely
· your batter in a medium mixing bowl
· a dessert spoon
· cooking oil spray
While you are waiting for the batter to rest also
- plug in or place on stovetop the frypan or skillet – but don’t turn it on yet.
Now if you feel that you or your breakfast guests won’t be ready immediately after the pikelets are cooked – turn on your oven to 75° Celsius /167° if it has a fan or 95° Celsius/203° Fahrenheit without a fan.
- next to the frypan or skillet place your batter, dessert spoon, spatula, paper towels and cooking spray.
- close by, have your serving plate and 2 sheets of foil – enough to fully enclose a mound of pikelets.
You will also have time to now
- wash the existing dishes that are in the sink.
- have a sip of your cuppa.
- set the table with your condiments - lemon & sugar, maple syrup, cream & jam or all of these.
When there is 5 minutes left on your timer turn your frypan or skillet on low.
9) Cooking your pikelets
Lightly spray your frypan or skillet with cooking oil spray.
Turn up your frypan or skillet to low/medium heat.
You will be making 6 pikelets at a time, repeating this 3 times – a total of 18 pikelets.
Take 1 dessert spoon of batter and place in your frypan or skillet. Gently place your spoon on top and massage the batter to form a circle (about 6 cm/2 1/2" in diameter) – that’s 1 pikelet. Repeat this for another 5 pikelets. Use your paper towels to clean away drips on the bench top – it can take a bit of practice to keep it clean.
After about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes you will start to see bubbles form – now is the time to flip with your spatula. Some frypans or skillets don’t distribute the heat evenly, so the pikelets might not bubble all at the same time. Just wait until your pikelet has bubbles and then flip.
Cook on the other side for about 2 minutes – use your spatula to take a cheeky peak – look for a lovely golden brown.
Remove and place on serving plate – cover with foil to stay warm while you cook your next 2 batches. In between batches you may need to adjust your temperature from medium to medium low as your frypan or skillet may get too hot. Also carefully wipe away with paper towel any bits of batter that have remained in the frypan or skillet as they will just burn and lightly re-spray with oil if needed.
Once all your pikelets are cooked
-turn off electricity and stove top to frypan or skillet.
-set aside the mixing bowl, spatula, dessert spoon and the frypan or skillet for cleaning later.
If not ready to eat, place the oven-proof plate covered and sealed with aluminium foil into the oven. Remove from oven when required with oven mitts and place plate on heatproof surface.
10) Eat and Enjoy - Well done – you CAN cook…
NOTES
Simple Ingredient Changes to Suit Your Dietary Requirements
Gluten free – replace the self-raising flour with gluten free self raising flour.
Dairy Free – replace the milk with unsweetened almond milk or your milk of choice.
Vegan - replace the milk with unsweetened almond milk or your milk of choice and replace the egg with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly.
Storage Requirements
Refrigerate - in a sealed container for up to 5 days. Can be gently reheated in microwave before eating.
Freezer – in a sealed container in layers separated by freezer wrap for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. Can be gently reheated in microwave before eating.
PIKELETS RECIPE
Prep time- 5 mins Cooking time – 10 mins Makes - 18
Ingredients
· 1 cup self-raising flour
· ¼ teaspoon bi-carb soda
· 1/4 cup caster sugar
· 1 lightly beaten egg
· 3/4 cup milk
· cooking oil spray
· jam/cream, lemon/sugar or maple syrup to serve
Method
· Sift flour and bi-carb soda together into a medium bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Gradually stir in egg and milk until no lumps. Rest 15 minutes.
· Heat a large frying pan to medium heat. Lightly spray with oil. Using dessert spoon, place 6 circles of batter into frypan and cook for 1 – 1 ½ minutes or until bubble appear on pikelets. Flip over and cook for a further 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from frypan. Repeat this 3 times – total of 18 pikelets.
· Serve warm with jam/cream, lemon/sugar or maple syrup.