Life Changing Pancakes

Next week is Shrove Tuesday, or most commonly known as Pancake Day. This is something completely new to us that has been, however, rapidly incorporated into our family save-the-date calendar.

Before living in the UK not only had we never celebrated pancake day, but also I can´t remember preparing pancakes myself ever. Not that I don´t like them, but blame the pan, blame the recipe, I have only managed to prepare lumpy, chewy, bland and shapeless pancakes. So last year, to celebrate our first Pancake Day I bought one of those already made mixes (shame on me) that did the job but that´s it.

If there is someone with the pancake making knack it is my mum. Some Sundays she woke up early and prepared pancakes for the whole family. It was only on those days that she managed to have us out of bed at a reasonable time. We would all run down the stairs and sit around the table impatiently awaiting for her to finish the most amazing pancakes I´ve ever eaten. If we were lucky enough she would have prepared lemon curd as well to go with them. My favourite and my best.

I can see my siblings and I teasing my mum by trying to eat the pancakes faster than she managed to prepare them. Picking them straight from the plate one second after they were flipped.  I remember my mum moaning but still laughing because of that. And although there could be around 100 pancakes (or at least, that´s what it looked like to me), they never seemed to be enough. I can remember my dad asking us to exercise our self-control, and us laughing because he wasn´t able to eat as fast as we were.

I can remember those Sunday mornings, as the only rare time we spend some time together without shouting at each other. Happy days.

This year I´ve decided to break with the past, prepare my own pancakes and start a brand new tradition. Because I wanted to prove to myself that I am able to prepare decent pancakes. Because I wanted to draw a line in the sand and start a brand new tradition just the right way.

I knew I was never going to be able to prepare my mum´s pancakes, and I was not ready for more disasters. So inspired by this recipe from Kitchen Treaty I decided to prepare this life changing pancakes that are not only tasty and delicious, but also light and healthy for all the family. And amazingly easy to make.

WHAT YOU NEED

200gr Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Cold

100ml Milk

1 Large Free Range Egg

2tbsp Golden Syrup, plus more for serving

50gr Butter

150gr Self Raising Flour

Pinch Cinnamon

1tbsp Olive Oil

WHAT YOU DO

Mix the mashed sweet potatoes with the milk, egg, golden syrup and butter in a medium bowl. Add the flour and cinnamon and blend until soft and smooth.

Brush the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. With the help of a ladle, pour the batter and cook until the first side is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Tip: you can use a cooking ring for perfectly round shaped pancakes.

Carefully, flip your pancakes and cook until the other side is brown and pancakes are puffed, about another 2 minutes.

Transfer to a plate and repeat until all pancakes are cooked.

Decorate with some fruit, berries, nuts and extra golden syrup, lemon or honey.

Serve warm and eat immediately.