Four easy ways to jazz up the simple pancake

Everyone loves a good pancake. However, maple syrup and butter can get a bit boring after a while! With today being International Pancake Day, here's four ways to make your next pancake a little more interesting.

Flavour with your favourite spread

You can easily put a twist on your usual pancake batter by adding a sweet spread like peanut butter, Nutella or chocolate spread, or your favourite jam. If you're not sure how much spread to add, start by mixing a couple of tablespoons to your mixture then taste to see how much more you need or would like. If you're a Nutella lover, you'll love my Nutella pancakes to take the guess work out of it.

Spreads are also great to simply spread over each pancake. A favourite combination for us lately is cream cheese and strawberry jam. Delicious and easy!

Add a spiced twist

Sweet spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg are a great addition to your batter. For those that like to bake, you'd also know these are spices are often found together in recipes. They are also the signature spices in apple pie. I often like to change my white sugar in recipes with brown sugar and add a little cinnamon, just like in my Apple Pie Pancakes.

Go fruity

No, I'm not saying add some sliced fruit (even though this is good!) but get inspired to create a topping with fruit. Create a simple berry compote with mixed berries, pitted cherries or strawberries, using fresh or frozen fruit. For those worried, compote is pretty much just a fruit sauce made with fruit, water and sugar. My PB and J pancakes use a strawberry compote on top for the jelly or jam component.

Another easy idea is stewing up some fruit such as apples or peaches with some spices, water and sugar. Nutmeg and peaches go great together, and cinnamon and apples are perfect partners. I use stewed apples for my Apple Pie pancakes.

Bananas are another great pancake fruit. We love to fry ours off in a generous amount of butter before sprinkling them with brown sugar and cinnamon, creating bananas in a sort of caramel sauce you can drizzle over your pancakes. Bacon goes great with caramelised bananas as well.

Sauce it up

Yes, you could simply add an ice cream topping - but I'm referring to adding sauces such as a chocolate, Nutella or even butterscotch that you make yourself. Trust me, it's so much better! 

If making a sauce sounds a little daunting, try my Nutella pouring sauce or butterscotch sauce. You'll surprise yourself with how easily you'll throw it together.

Steph xo