When I happen upon other peoples blogs, I let me nosey side take over and  always spend an inordinate amount of time perusing the “about” section. I remember once reading a bio that listed the bloggers special skills as “can whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the 6 minutes it takes my oven to preheat”. That struck me as impressive, and somewhat unnecessary at the time.  As a mum, I totally get it now.

Mr C will wake up between 7 and 7:30 most mornings. We aim to have him sitting down to breakfast about 20 minutes later. Now Mr Firehouse and I rarely get out of bed before him on the weekends, which is usually when we make pancakes. So while he goes and gets the baby I have about 5 minutes to whip up pancakes. I can proudly say that with my easy peasy pancakes I can make a batch of pancake mix in the time it takes my non-stick pan to reheat. Take that chocolate chip cookie lady* . We make these at least once a week!

Yield: About 4 large pancakes Ingredients

• 1 cup of self raising /rising flour
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tbsp oil/melted butter

Preparation Add all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until the batter is smooth and no large lumps remain.

Heat a medium non-stick pan on medium heat and pour 1/2 cup of batter into the middle of the pan. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, make sure you grease the pan well in between each pancake. Wait for the surface of the pancake to be covered with bubbles before using a spatula to flip.

Cook on the second side for about a minute before taking off the heat and repeating with the remaining mixture. Feel free to make these pancakes as big or as small as you’d like. I like using 1/2 a cup of batter to get through the mix quicker, but 1/4 cup would make lovely pikelets that you can top with a spread of jam and whipped cream. Serving suggestions

• stewed berries
• chopped strawberries and chocolate sauce
• passionfruit pulp
• maple syrup/golden syrup
• bananas, caramel and nuts
• fresh berries
• whipped cream
• jam
• lemon curd

Berry Sauce This is a simple berry sauce that we often make with these pancakes and any leftovers are amazing over plain vanilla ice cream!

• 350 g frozen mixed berries
• zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 1tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. sugar (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and place on medium heat. Cook until the berries are warmed through and slightly soft. The longer you leave it the more “jam-like” it will become.

* Dear chocolate chip cookie lady, I bear you no ill will,  it’s just an expression