Friday favourites

Drop scones

Also known as pikelets, these are a handy thing to know about if you've run out of bread, or have to feed a hungry horde at short notice.
A little lower on the culinary scale than Proper Scones (which are an Art Form, whereas any dill can make drop scones) they still make an excellent vehicle for jam and cream, or butter and honey, or whatever else you fancy. This is the recipe I've always used, from the old Aerophos cookbook, c.1953.

Ingredients
2 cups SR flour (I used one each of white and wholemeal flour)
1/4 tsp salt, 1 level tablespoon sugar
2 eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter (or 1 tab. oil)

Method

Mix flour, salt and sugar in a basin.
Beat eggs, add milk.
Make a well in the flour, add milk/egg mixture, stirring to blend.
Lastly stir in butter or oil.
You'll probably need more milk if you use wholemeal flour.
Drop spoonfuls (a soup spoon is good) on a heated, ungreased (non-stick) pan. I used an electric frypan set at 180C.
Turn with a spatula when bubbles form on the surface and start to break.
Remove when done, and repeat.
 This quantity makes about 3 dozen drop scones, depending on size.
Towards the end, I added a grated apple to the batter, and ate the first one sprinkled with sugar, and a little cream added. Delicious!

A slight problem about these Friday recipe posts is being overcome by the urge to actually make whatever you're writing about, like today (and last week) It's a habit the Resident Grandson thoroughly approves of...

Pancakes are related to drop scones, beginning with a batter, and cooked in a frypan. But pancakes, apart from being larger, should be thin and delicate and tender. For this you need a different recipe, and a slightly different method. This recipe comes from one of the Moosewood books, and is pretty much foolproof.
I use a 20 cm nonstick pan for these, over a moderate flame.

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 tab oil, 1/4 tsp salt.

Beat everything in a blender until smooth.
No blender? follow the instructions for drop scones, but beat very well, then allow mixture to stand for 1/2 an hour.
(You may need to add more milk or water to thin it down again)
Heat a few drops of oil in the pan, pour in about 1/4 cup of batter, swirl it around in the pan.
When the top is just about set, flip over and brown the other side. Repeat.
You may need to experiment a little to get just the right temperature; the first one or two pancakes may not be quite perfect.
Sprinkle with castor sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice, roll and enjoy.

In Paris, street vendors cook your pancakes while you wait, huge, paper-thin ones, spread with apricot jam, or Nutella, and wrapped in a twist of white paper. Mmmmm!