Sluttishly Simple: Scotch Pancakes

Slight Pancake Day confession - I've never made normal pancakes myself. I've eaten them in their tonnes, but the odd, fearful frying pan-toss as a kid rather put me off making them. I had two last night (Shrove Monday, win!) and the one I tried to toss ended up as a sort of half-pancake half-broken sandcastle.

Happily, I am borderline obsessed with Scotch Pancakes, also known as drop scones. They're both crap names as there's nothing Scottish or scone-ish about them, but they are utterly foolproof and delicious. Making them yourself has the distinct advantage of being able to make loads of them, rather than being limited to the six that usually come in a packet. Not that I ate an entire packet on Sunday evening before supper, ooooh no.

My mum makes these on her Aga stove top by just throwing the mix on, but unless you live in an edition of Country Life, I'd use a non-stick frying pan. This is the most ridiculously easy recipe I know, so make with abandon!

Scotch Pancakes (makes 12)

You will need:

• 113g self-raising flour
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 140ml milk

Make it!

1. If you have a blender, then please - forget all this "making a well" stuff and just whack it in and blend. Then get a knife and go round the edge just to make sure you've got all the flour. If you are blender-free, then mix your flour and sugar in a bowl, make a well and add your egg, then gradually add your milk while stirring.
2. Put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour to settle, then wipe butter over the bottom of a really hot frying pan and dribble a spoonful of mixture on top. Test the temperature with one, then turn down the heat. Dollop in tablespoons of mixture so they spread out into circles, and let cook for about two minutes, then flip. They should be lovely and golden.
3. Keep them warming in the bottom oven until you're ready to eat them all, and serve with butter and jam, or whatever you fancy.

If you fancy making more sorts of pancakes then why not try one of our other recipes? As you can see, we are *mental* for blueberries.

Banana Pancakes

Blueberry Pancakes

Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes

Helena's American Blueberry Pancakes

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Picture by Danny Chapman on Flickr. We heartily endorse his giant scone.