PB and J pancakes

I don't know about you, but I LOVE peanut butter and jam sandwiches or toast.  It's so simple but oh, so good! Here in Australia we don't have the traditional fruit jelly those in the US have. I'm sure I can get it, but, being of English heritage, I grew up with a wide assortment of jams.

One morning Mr Steph and I were tossing around breakfast ideas.

"How about apple pie pancakes again? I really feel like that with butterscotch sauce," said Mr Steph.
"Sorry, hun. I'm out of butter ... " I said regrettably. "I really like the idea of pancakes, though ..."

I started thinking about different variations. I threw out the idea of Nutella pancakes, but Mr Steph didn't feel like it. Then I thought, why not create a pancake that tastes like something else Mr Steph loves: Peanut butter and jam.

It turned out a treat!

PB and J pancakes

Makes approx 8 large pancakes or 12 medium pancakes

For the pancake batter

1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk or rice milk
1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup SR flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

For the jam or strawberry coulis (sauce)

200 g frozen sliced strawberries. Fresh strawberries are OK also. If using fresh, add a tiny bit of water (no more than 1 Tbsp) to make more of a sauce, otherwise it'll just be a jam. As the strawberries cook, they will create their own liquid.

1/4 cup white sugar

Get your strawberry coulis on first. If you've never made one before, you'll find yourself making this all the time after this - adding it to ice cream, crepes or letting it go cold for a quick jam. You can use this same ratio or technique for any kind of berry sauce you'd like to make, such as blueberries or raspberries.

Add the strawberries and sugar (water also if using fresh strawberries) over a low heat. Allow to simmer and cook away while you make your pancakes, stirring every couple of minutes. Once the sauce is thick but still has a decent amount of liquid, turn it off and simply let it sit. If it's ready a while before the pancakes are done, simply add it back to the heat for a couple of minutes before serving so it's nice and hot.

For the batter, add all your dry ingredients into a bowl. Whisk up your egg in a small jug, adding your milk and mixing together. Create a well or hollow in your dry ingredients, and pour the milk and egg mixture into the centre. Mix to combine into a thick batter.

Now the magic ingredient: the peanut butter.

There's a couple of ways to add peanut butter into things. You can add it straight in, whisking until it combines - or whack it into the microwave for 20 seconds to soften it slightly. However you choose, mix the peanut butter into the batter until it's well combined. You want the batter to be thick but also still pourable. if you find it's too thick, add a little bit more milk until it gets to the consistency you like.

In a large pan, add in a little bit of butter over a medium heat. Once melted, swirl the butter around the pan so that the base is  well coated. To make large pancakes, take a 1/2 a cup measurement of batter and pour it into the pan. For medium size, use a 1/4 measurement.Using measurements like this also helps you get pancakes the same size and shape each side.

You know you're ready to flip the pancake
when bubbles appear across the surface.

The biggest problem people have with pancakes is knowing when to flip them, ending up with burnt pancakes or batter going everywhere in the pan once flipped. The trick is to look for bubbles appearing on the surface of the pancake. You are looking for small bubbles to appear all over, not  just around the edges.

Once flipped, the pancake will only need a little over a minute to be cooked on the other side. Remove the cooked pancake from the pan, add in more butter and another scope of pancake mixture.

Continue scoping the mixture until all the mixture is used, making sure to stir your strawberry sauce every so often.

You can plate your pancakes however you'd like. For the real peanut butter lovers, you could even spread some between each pancake. I know Mr Steph is just obsessed - eating it off spoons if I let him. If you love sweets like I do, you might want to add a little bit of sauce between each one or just add the sauce on top. Either way, you will have the family licking the plate clean!

Enjoy,

Steph xo