So this morning I found myself trying to russle up brekky for myself and the girls which would be quite easy on a normal morning, except this morning I was running extremely low on the Bainne. 

But to my delight there in the fridge was a golden coloured carton of buttermilk to me that only means one thing, and that's pancakes.

For this fruity selection of  buttermilk pancakes you will need...

1 cup of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 egg

1 cup of buttermilk

1 tablespoon of poppyseeds

1/2 the juice and zest of a lemon

1 strawberry per pancake 

Vanilla bean infused sugar

5 blueberries per pancake

Icing sugar

So firstly make your bubbly pancake mix then, heat your pan then drizzle with a little oil one that is flavourless. Next dollop your batter onto the pan, I usually make 2 pancakes at a time.

Once your pancakes are on the pan start adding your fruit, for the strawberry pancakes I like to thinly slice the strawberries but only use one per pancake as they are so juicy you don't want to make a soggy pancake ;) once your pancakes are all cooked then lightly sprinkle them with your vanilla bean infused sugar...a match made in heaven.

For the blueberry pancakes once the pancakes are in the pan I like to scatter the blueberries evenly over the batter but again after much "testing" I find 5 is plenty especially for the juniors in the house you don't want to overwhelm them with flavour. Once you flip them that's when the berries go from a beautiful blue to a gorgeous deep purple. Dust with icing sugar then serve.

Lastly on my colourful crusade are my lemon and poppyseed pancakes I will literally use this flavour combination where ever I can and today it was in pancakes. 

With the batter left over I sprinkled in the poppyseeds then added the zest + and some of the juice of the 1/2 lemon. When I turned the pancakes in the pan I squeezed the rest of the juice over et voila c'est manifique...

From this recipe I made 2 pancakes of each fruity flavour 

Enjoy

Rebecca x

Seville orange + lemongrass{optional}Marmalade

Well it's definitely that time of year again...Seville orange marmalade time that is, and like an obsessive foodie that I am Iv been looking forward to this since the end of the summer last year .

Myself and my blogging buddy laura {we are 2girlswithafoodblog.com} decided that instead of going on the razzle  like normal humans we'd stay at home on a Saturday night have a few glasses of the vino {very important} and make way to much marmalade, in the end we made 20 jars of the sticky stuff between us.

And I don't mind bragging that it felt so satisfying to have made my years supply from scratch and to my delight it tastes so more'ish and indulgent that the shop bought marmalade.

So this recipe will make you 10 jars enough for yourself and friends and family and maybe the teacher lol.

I also added 1 stick of fresh lemongrass to one of my pots {so say half your batch} to kick the lemon flavour to another level and it is amazing the marmalade is very aromatic  but without been to tart and zingy if you get my drift ;)

For this recipe you will need:

{this recipe makes 10 jars}

9 Seville oranges

3.6 kilos of golden unrefined sugar

2 lemons

7 litres if water

A nob of butter

2 large pots

Muslin clothes

Firstly cut all your oranges and lemons in half and squeeze the juice out into your pot you will use to boil the oranges in. Once that delightful task is complete scrape out all the pulp including any pips you come across and tie them all up in a muslin clothe. 

Next with a sharpe knife cut your peel into long thin shreds and divide that into your pots along with the water, orange juice and the pulp in the muslin clothes. Bring this to the boil then reduce to a gentle boil for aprox 2 hours.

When you come to the last half hour of boiling you will gently heat your sugar in the oven do this by spreading the sugar on baking paper on a tray then heat through for 7-10 minutes on a low heat.

Once the 2 hours are up take the pots off the heat and remove the muslin let them cool then give them a good squeeze into the pots this will release the pectin into the juice. 

Next pour in your sugar and continuesly stir until the sugar has dissolved then bring them back up to the boil. This is when I bruised a long stick of lemon grass and added it to one of the pots. Add the butter at this stage it will reduce the froth that could appear when boiling.

We had to rely on the old fashioned method of testing the marmalade . You do this by putting a saucer in the fridge for a few minutes to chill. Take it out and spread a small thin amount of the marmalade across it, wait a moment then touch it to see if it has set. If it has the marmalade is ready if not boil a little longer.

Meanwhile you will wash your jars and then pop them in the oven @110" for 10 minutes to sterilize them. 

Next is the tricky bit if you do not have a funnel to pour your marmalade into the jars use a jug like we did. Once all the jars are sealed give yourself a high five you have just made yummy marmalade well done you...

This will definitely be an annual event for myself and laura...

Enjoy Rebecca x