Scotch Pancakes

It’s Pancake Day today and these little Scotch Pancakes are my contribution to the proceedings. I remember making these years ago when I was still at school, although we called them Drop Scones. I must confess, the ones I made at the age of thirteen resembled rather rubbery drinks mats and, as I recall, they tasted like drinks mats too! Thankfully, I've improved a lot since those days.

I know these don’t look like the usual sort of pancakes but I’m not too keen on the ‘lemon and sugar’ type so we had these as a substitute. They were very nice as a little mid-afternoon filler and they were so quick to make you can almost do them while the kettle boils. I used a heavy frying pan to cook them but if you have a flat griddle it will be even quicker because you’ll be able to cook more at a time.

120g self-raising flour

pinch of baking powder

30g golden caster sugar

1 large egg

100ml milk

small amount of butter for greasing

butter and jam to serve

Put all the dry ingredients into a large jug; add the egg and milk and mix to a smooth thick batter.

Heat a flat griddle or frying pan over a medium heat and grease the pan with a little butter, wipe the excess from the pan with kitchen paper so that just a thin film remains.

Pour one-two tablespoons of batter per pancake in the pan and cook until small bubbles form and start to pop. Turn them over and cook for another minute or two on the other side.

Grease the pan again and cook more pancakes until all the batter is used up. I made ten of these little beauties. Serve whilst just warm with plenty of butter and jam (and a mug of tea!)

Best eaten the same day they’re made.