American Style Pancakes

Almost every weekend, either before work or on my day off, I make american style pancakes for us as a treat. I started off using a basic recipe online but changed it a little bit to make it better. This mix should make around 10-12 pancakes. I usually add some chocolate chips to the different ladles of pancake mix, or marshmallows. You can add whatever ingredient you can think of, but make sure the added ingredient is mixed into the pancake mix or covered by the mix, so it doesn't burn on the pan.

You'll need:
1 tablespoon of baking powder
A pinch of salt (I use sea salt)
1 teaspoon of granulated white sugar
2 (medium or large) free range eggs (beaten)
30g irish butter (melted and cooled)
300ml whole milk
225g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon Madagascan vanilla
Some butter to use for pan.

What you need to do:
Melt butter in microwave and leave to cool.
Mix all dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar and baking powder) in a bowl.
Add milk and mix thoroughly.
Add butter and mix.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
Heat butter on pan until melted (on a medium heat), and pour a soup ladle almost full of pancake mix onto the pan.
Wait until blisters appear on pancake and then flip.
Repeat this process.
Each pancake will take around 1 minute to make.

To keep pancakes hot while making the whole batch, turn grill on to a low settings and make sure the tray is as low as it can be. Put a plate on the tray and add pancakes to it as you go, to keep them warm. Top with cream or maple syrup, or anything you can think of. I usually use maple syrup and raspberries, which makes a delicious combo on a stack of pancakes.

Enjoy,
Jess x

Granola

I'm a big lover of breakfast and brunch, or anything snack like really. But my main obsession at the minute is making some homemade granola and having it with natural greek yoghurt, raspberries and honey. I mainly started making granola myself as there was always something in the ones you can buy in the shops that I didn't want to eat, such as dried strawberries (Bleh!) or hazelnuts (not a fan!) So I wanted to share the recipe for the granola I make at home. This is also a recipe where you can add whatever you want to as well, e.g. more seeds, less seeds, dried fruit, etc. This mix will fill a medium Ikea jar.

So here's what you'll need:
3 cups large porridge oats
A handful of almonds (pop them in a sambo bag and beat them, saves time on chopping)
3 tablespoons of honey
Some butter
Any extra ingredient you'd like to add

Let's get started:
Add oats and almonds, and rest of dry ingredients to a bowl and mix.
Add your honey and mix altogether.
Add a bit of butter to a pan on a high heat. 
Add granola mix and continuously mix with a wooden spoon.
(May need to do 2 batches depending on size of pan)
Mix in pan for 5-7 minutes until mix is golden brown.
Add to an air tight jar (I used this Ikea one), leave jar open until mix is cool.
Mix will store for 1-2 weeks (if you can even leave it that long).

Enjoy!
Jess x