The Cookbook Challenge - Week 13 - Love

This weeks theme for The Cookbook Challenge is love.  I had to have a good think before I knew how I wanted to interpret this one.  Rather than going for the obvious Valentines Day romantic commercial love that was probably the most obvious I wanted to cook something I LOVE cooking for someone I LOVE.  This could have been many different foods for many different reasons.  I finally settled on pancakes, they have to be my favourite breakfast indulgence & cooking someone breakfast is an act of love, dinner has to be eatan & cooked pretty much every night apart from the occasional take-away or night out, lunch somehow gets scraped together most days (usually vegemite & cheese sandwich I have to admit), however breakfast which is normally cereal, either out of a box or my home made muesli, is very special when I go to the trouble to actually cook up something. 

Chloe loves pancakes, thats right Chloe got the love not Michael this time sorry, so I settled on Bill Granger's (the king of brekky), Oaty Hotcakes with Caramel bananas from Feed me Now.  Somewhat healthy hotcakes topped with absolutely wicked & drool worthy bananas, need I say anymore other than you have to try these out for yourself.

Oaty Hotcakes with fruity toppings - from - Bill Granger - Feed Me Now

Hotcakes

185g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon caster sugar
25g rolled oats
375ml buttermilk
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
35g butter, melted, plus extra to grease pan

To make the hotcake batter, sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt together in a bowl.  Stir the sugar and oats through then make a well in the centre.  Pur in the buttermilk & egg, stirring until just mixed.  Add the melted butter & stir to combine.  Set aside.

(At this time I made up the caramel bananas so they were ready as soon as the pancakes were cooked.)

To cook the hotcakes, heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat & brush a little butter over the base.  Pour in 2 or 3 small ladlefuls of batter, being careful not to overcrowd the pan, and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a plate & keep warm while cooking the rest (or serve up to hungry nearly 3 year olds while you get on with the rest).

Caramel bananas

3 bananas
60g butter
90g brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Halve the bananas lengthways & cut each piece into 3.  Put the butter, sugar, vanilla & 3 tablespoons water in a large frying pan over medium heat & cook until the mixture forms a caramel and darkens.  Add the bananas and toss through until well coated.