Orange and date pikelets (mini pancakes)

It is a long weekend in the UK, and contrary to stereotypes of rainy bank holiday Mondays, the weather is set to be glorious. I hope to do our first bike ride of 2018 and fit in a picnic.

These pikelets would work well for a sunny spring outing, but equally, they could cheer you up if the weather is cool and rainy. They are easy to make and easy to eat. Whilst sweet from the dates, they are also free of added / refined sugars.

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Apple and banana cinnamon pikelets

I have made apple-containing pikelets many a time, and banana-containing pikelets on occasion, but never blended the two before this week. Mixing the two worked well in allowing for sweetness from both fruits plus the contrasting textures of mashed banana and chopped apple. I recommend these as a simple snack or breakfast free of refined sugar, and as easy to make from basic ingredients.

Yet again I find myself needing to make a note on terminology, with pikelets being the Australian term for small pancakes or 'Scotch pancakes'. It is amazing how much variation exists in food terminology across English speaking countries!

I added rolled oats to the batter of these, as well as flour, but the proportions are such that you can't really detect the oats. You could use all flour it you preferred. I also used hemp seeds in my mix, but chia seeds would work instead, or even flax or pumpkin seeds.

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Mini avocado hot cakes

These mini hot cakes were inspired by my avocado scones with hemp seeds. They could also be called savoury pikelets (if you're Australian) or drop scones (if you're British) or just mini pancakes. Whatever you call them they are an easy and portable savoury snack or meal accompaniment.

I would have liked these to be greener but the avocado didn't give a discernible colour. In truth, it doesn't provide a strong flavour either, although you will know it is in there. Similarly, you can just about detect the other ingredients (chia seeds, nutritional yeast, tomato paste) but none of them are heavily present. I liked this as the result was a background of flavours rather than a single dominant taste. It also means you could spread these with toppings or serve them alongside a stew or soup if you so wished.

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Lemon raisin drop scones with caramelised apple pieces

To my amazement, I think it has been 18 months since my last drop scone or pikelet recipe. Given I have 10 prior recipes of that type on Bite-Sized Thoughts, that is a long time to go without a new one (although I did post a pancake recipe in January). Clearly I need to make up for lost time!

After 18 months, some of you may not be familiar with what drop scones or pikelets actually are. I use the terms fairly interchangeably now, although there are probably some technical differences if you study food history closely. Basically, pikelets are an Australian term for small fluffy pancakes and drop scones are the British equivalent. Both may also be called Scotch pancakes.

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Orange and date drop scones (or pikelets. or mini pancakes)

These drop scones were made during my orange phase of early January. I figured a month between orange-themed recipes was sufficient, and so I'm pleased to share them with you now!

For those of you not familiar with my past drop scone posts, drop scones are also called Scotch pancakes and roughly equivalent to Australian pikelets. For Americans, think mini fluffy pancakes. I like mine with fruit in them and they are well suited to breakfast, afternoon tea, or snacking at pretty much any time of day.

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Fig and lemon drop scones

I promise I won't make a habit of twice monthly drop scone recipes. However, I enjoyed this fig and lemon batch so much that I couldn't keep the post back for long. I also managed slightly neater scones this time around, giving support to the strategy of dropping batter into the pan off the end of your spoon.

I am not sure why dried figs were bought early in my kitchen stocking efforts. I rarely bought them in Australia and I didn't have any clear plans for their use. Given I also bought the fig balsamic featured in my last post, I must have had some latent fig cravings that needed sating! Fortunately, the dried figs proved a perfect match for the lemon in this recipe. The sweet fig pieces turned gooey when cooked, providing little bursts of caramel-like flavour throughout each scone (or pikelet as part of me still calls them).

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Mini vegan caramel apple pancakes (pikelets)

I have found the English equivalent to Australian pikelets: drop scones. Some of you had told me about them previously, and lo! you were correct. Also known as Scotch pancakes, they are pretty much identical to Australian pikelets in appearance, and have just a few minor differences in the typical ingredient list.

I suspect I will be sharing a drop scone recipe with you before long, but for now, I am featuring what may be my last Australian pikelet recipe for now. I made these caramel apple pikelets before we moved, and they feature some more of that mesquite powder I was trying to use up (!). The mesquite provided the caramel tones referred to in the title, and the pikelets were (if I do say so myself) utterly delicious. I certainly plan to make them again.

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Vegan carrot cake pikelets, for Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

I have 6 other pikelet recipes on Bite-Sized Thoughts, but after making this carrot cake variety I may never go back to them again. I feel like I have reached the pinnacle of pikelets. It is a delectable place to be.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Australian pikelets, they are small, fluffy pancakes that generally include a raising agent and some form of sweetener within the batter. They are delicious hot and cold, and also store well over several days. I have chosen this carrot cake batch to showcase Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, which is coming up in May but had an opening launch in Perth last week.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea launch, with Anna Gare, Herb Faust and Sam Longley
(photo courtesy of the Cancer Council)

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Pikelets with all the things (quinoa flakes, hemp seeds, apple and strawberry)

I'm starting to see that blogging for multiple years can, over time, result in the posting of recipes that are similar to recipes one has posted before. In other words, I'm getting repetitive.

On the weekend, we had no-bake banana bread bites that were a twist on my no-bake chocolate brownie bites. Today, we have pikelets that are really very similar to the strawberry, oat and quinoa pikelets that I posted just over a year ago.

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Purple pikelets with nut pulp

The first time I made nut milk at home, I didn't know what to do with the pulp left at the end. To be honest, it scared me a little. It is an odd looking substance. Sort of curd-like, and moist but crumbly. Edible? I didn't think so.

Hmm. No, thank you.

And yet...quite a lot of you told me to add it to baked goods. And so when I made cashew milk recently, I retained the nut pulp and put it in the fridge and thought about what I could do with it.

The answer was a purple version of the small, fluffy pancakes that are Australian pikelets.

I don't know if it was the nut pulp or just a good pikelet-making day, but these pikelets were really, really good. Fluffy. Light. Soft. In all, so highly enjoyable that I'm considering making nut milk again just so I can replicate the experience.

If you aren't into nut milk making, you don't have to go through that step in order to try these yourself. If you're lacking in the nut pulp department (that doesn't read very well, does it?), just use almond meal or hazelnut meal instead. If you don't have those to hand, extra flour would get you by too.

You could also make these with diced apple, and omit the sultanas if they aren't your thing. There are lots of options. I served them with fig jam, but they are also delicious plain, or you could add some nut butter. Or fig jam and nut butter, which I'm now wishing I had thought of when I still had some pikelets left...

Purple pikelets with nut pulp

Vegan

Makes 1 batch of pikelets, about 16

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 small purple carrots, grated (~3/4 cup grated)

1 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup nut pulp as leftover from homemade nut milk, OR 1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp hazelnut meal, almond meal or extra plain flour

1 cup non-dairy milk, OR 1 cup + 1 tbsp non-dairy milk if using hazelnut/almond meal or extra flour

1 tsp chia seeds

1/2 cup sultanas (small raisins)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Allow to stand for 15 - 20 minutes, preferably in the fridge.

Heat a non-stick pan and drop spoonfuls of mixture on to the pan. Cook until bubbles start to appear on the surface, about 2 minutes, and then flip and cook for a similar time on the other side. Repeat for the remaining batter.

Serve warm. 

I think I am definitely over my fear of nut pulp.

Submitted to Healthy Vegan Fridays #35.

If you make nut or seed milk, do you have a favourite use for the pulp at the end?
Or do you just have a favourite use for purple carrots?

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Pikelets with peanut butter, banana and hemp seeds

I have a question for you.

What do you think of when you hear "peanut butter and ____________"?

If you're American, it might be jelly.

(Actually, even if you're Australian it might be jelly, even though 'jelly' is actually 'jam' to us.)

It might be chocolate.

Or toast.

It might even be a spoon.

If you're me, it is peanut butter and banana.

It seems I'm not alone: there are 27.900,000 Google results for 'peanut butter and banana', to 3,230,000 results for 'peanut butter and jelly'.

My peanut butter and banana connotations stem from one of my regular 3-year-old lunches, a peanut butter and banana sandwich on wholemeal bread. It is one of my earliest food memories, and strongly linked to my mother (who made me the sandwiches, and, I believe, ate them alongside me).

As I got older, I liked peanut butter and banana less and less. I moved to vegemite sandwiches with an apple on the side, leaving the peanut butter and bananas to my brother and sister. It is only in the last 5 years that I have re-discovered peanut butter (only in natural and crunchy form you understand) and I still prefer my bananas in frozen or baked form, rather than fresh.

Sometimes, though, a craving for peanut butter and banana together will hit me. I am never sure if it is physiological (healthy fats and potassium?) or psychological (the comfort of being 3?), but it is certainly a flavour combination that has stayed in my memory and my imagination.

Today, we have peanut butter and banana pikelets. They are, if I say so myself, quite delicious.

Pikelets with peanut butter, banana and hemp seeds

Adapted from my apple and sultana quinoa pikelets

Makes about 16 pikelets

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 medium-large or 2 small bananas

3/4 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup quinoa flakes (see note below)

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

2 tsp chia seeds soaked in 1/4 cup water

2 tsp hemp seeds

3/4 cup almond milk, or milk of choice

2 tbsp peanut butter

Oil spray for coating the pan

Note. I used quinoa flakes because I enjoyed them in my apple and sultana pikelets, and still had some in the pantry. If you don't have any, or don't want to use them, you could substitute oats or plain wholemeal flour (or even plain white flour).

Method

Slice your banana/s thinly and then cut each slice in half. 

Combine the flour, quinoa flakes, bicarbonate soda, chia seeds in water, hemp seeds and almond milk. Stir well to combine.

Add the banana slices and peanut butter and mix through the batter.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the pan. I did 3 - 4 pikelets at a time. Cook until bubbles start to appear (1 - 2 minutes) and then flip and repeat, so both sides are browned. Repeat for the other pikelets.

I think these are best served warm shortly after cooking, but they were also enjoyable cold and should keep for several days in an airtight container. I didn't think of it at the time, but some cinnamon would work well in the mix too.

So tell me - what is your 'peanut butter and ___' combination? 

Or, what are your 3-year-old food memories like?!

This post is part of my Vegan Month of Food contributions for October 2012, and is

also submitted to Ricki's Wellness Weekend

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Hemp seed muesli squares and apple, zucchini and hemp seed pikelets

After my short but busy trip to Sydney, it was with some relief that I landed back in Perth last night. Sydney is a lovely place, but it isn't home, and juggling my usual work tasks from afar, around 8 hour training days, was starting to take its toll!

The other nice thing about coming home, as I've discussed before, is returning to a house full of the foods I like, including all the 'little' ingredients that you wouldn't pick up when away. Herbs and spices, for instance. A range of teas. A range of cereals. And, as of recently, hemp seeds.

I was impressed at how many of you were keen to pursue hemp seeds when I mentioned them in my April recap post. Prior to Theresa's post and give away, I hadn't really heard of them - but then, I'm so often behind the times. From a nutritional perspective, hemp seeds are worth looking out for. They contain all 10 essential amino acids and a number of fatty acids. I have mentally filed them in the same category as flax and chia seeds, although I'm not sure how correct that really is.

The thing about hemp seeds, though, is that it's actually illegal to sell them for eating use in Australia. I don't really know what to make of this or how to interpret it in the context of hemp seeds being available, but there you go.

Putting legalities aside, here are some of the ways I enjoyed hemp seeds;

• Mixed into smoothies, as we saw
• In banana softserve with coffee (pictured above) - something about the hemp, coffee and banana combination worked incredibly well
• Mixed in with yoghurt and oats
• Tossed through a salad with chickpeas
• In muesli bar squares (see recipe below)
• In pikelets (see recipe below)

There is a clear bias here towards the breakfast and snacks category, and I haven't yet tried these in any savoury recipes. I will, though, and Theresa noted they worked well in soy burger patties. For now, I'll leave you with these recipes and will look forward to reading more about how others use the seeds.

Hemp seed muesli squares

Makes 16 squares
Soft and chewy, these squares are full of flavour but have a far shorter ingredient list than most commercial varieties
Vegan

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Ingredients

1 1/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup puffed millet, or puffed cereal of choice (puffed rice would work fine, for instance)

2 - 3 tbsp agave (I used 2 tbsp and these were barely sweet; use more to taste)

3 tbsp unhulled tahini

1 - 2 tbsp hemp seeds (I used 1.5 tbsp)

1/4 cup sultanas, or dried fruit of choice

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbsp water

Method

Preheat oven to 160'C and line a square baking tin with baking paper.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Press into the baking tin. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until set and slightly browned.

Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Apple, zucchini and hemp seed pikelets

Makes 16 pikelets
Sitting at the intersection of sweet and savoury, and of breakfast and lunch, these work well at any time of day
Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

3/4 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 chia egg or commercial egg replacer to the equivalent of 1 egg (or 1 egg)

3/4 cup almond milk

1 medium apple, peeled and diced

1/2 small zucchini, peeled and diced (Note. I would grate the zucchini in future)

1/4 cup sultanas

1 tbsp hemp seeds

Method

Combine the oats, quinoa flakes and bicarb. soda in a medium bowl. Mix the egg replacer and milk together in a separate bowl, then add to the dry mix and stir well to combine. Mix through the apple, zucchini, sultanas and hemp seeds.

Heat a non-stick pan and cook 4 pikelets at a time, flipping them when they are starting to bubble and turn golden brown.

I liked both of these products, but as noted would grate the zucchini in future - it was a bit odd having the chunks alongside apple and sultanas. The muesli squares were also barely sweet, so I would recommend 3 tablespoons of agave (or other liquid sweetener) if you want something sweeter.

Would the products have been as good without the hemp? That I can't really say, but I did like knowing the seeds were in there, and it seemed like it improved the texture and flavour. All in all, I'm very happy with it as an add in.

Have you ever used hemp seeds? Do you have any favourite uses?

My hemp seeds were provided from Hemp Seeds Australia, via Theresa at The Tropical Vegan

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Strawberry, quinoa and oat pikelets

The bugs in my lungs still seem to be hanging on. (Gosh that is a disgusting phrase. I'm sorry.) I had a few coughing fits at work today that really can't have sounded good, and I'm not sure that my croaked "I'm not contagious! Honest!" phrases would have made up for them.

Fortunately, I can work from home tomorrow if needed - which probably means I'll make a full recovery and be fully fit to go in to work!

Also fortunately, some things don't need full health, or even a voice, to be enjoyable. Strawberry pikelets go in that category.

In fact, these strawberry pikelets might even help you feel better if you're not quite sitting at 100%. If nothing else, you'll get a warm snack with sweet chunks of fruit, and protein-containing, slow release carbohydrates to boot. Plus, you can make them in under 20 minutes.

They're a direct adaptation of the apple and sultana pikelets with quinoa I made the other week, and equally simple to make. I am really becoming quite pikelet obsessed. They're my new muffins, except they don't seem to last as long as a muffin batch does...

So light. So fluffy. So fruity. 

This batch also included a few chocolate strawberry pikelets, when I added a teaspoon or so of cocoa to the last bit of batter.

In truth, I preferred the non-chocolate ones (the chocolate sort of detracted from the strawberry) but the chocolate did pair well with almond butter.

So very well indeed.

Strawberry, quinoa and oat pikelets

Makes 16 small pikelets

Vegan and low fat

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup quinoa flakes

1/4 cup rolled oats
1 flax or chia egg, or 1 real egg

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

3/4 cup milk (I used soy)

1 small apple, peeled and diced

1/3 cup strawberries, chopped

Oil spray for pan

Optional:1 - 2 tsp cocoa powder

Method

Combine the flour, quinoa flakes, oats and bicarbonate soda in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, prepare your flax / chia egg or egg. Add to the dry mixture along with the milk, and stir well to combine. Mix through the diced apple and strawberries.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the pan. I did 3 pikelets at a time. Cook until bubbles start to appear (~1 minute) and then flip and repeat, so both sides are browned. Repeat for the other pikelets.

Optionally, add cocoa powder to the last quarter or so of batter, to make 4 or 5 chocolate pikelets.

Enjoy plain, spread with strawberry jam, or spread with nut butter.

Store out of sight, or they may disappear surprisingly quickly!

Do you have a favourite strawberry product? I dislike strawberry ice cream but enjoy most other strawberry things, especially when  fresh strawberries are involved.

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Apple and sultana quinoa pikelets

I always love reading comments, but those left on my green ice cream post were particularly entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of you were enthusiastic about the idea, but had to smile at some of you clearly being more horrified than intrigued...but in a very polite way :-)

It's probably for the best that today's post is green-free and a little more traditional in its focus. Traditional with a twist, mind you, but traditional nonetheless.

The background to this comes from my discovery of quinoa flakes last week:

Quinoa in its standard grain form has become a normal part of my pantry, but I hadn't seen it sold as flakes before. When purchasing it, I had high hopes for using the flakes as I would oats.

Such as, for instance, mixed in with yoghurt:

Quinoa flakes, plan natural yoghurt, plum, apple

However, I had forgotten that quinoa has a slight bitter note to it, whereas oats do not. I also later discovered that quinoa flakes are best cooked before use. Thus, it probably isn't surprising that I didn't really enjoy them raw in unflavoured yoghurt!

I imagine that cooking the flakes into porridge would work much better, but I need cool mornings for porridge and there aren't any on the horizon here just yet. Quinoa flakes can also be cooked into a rice-type dish, as per the more standard quinoa preparation, but I have quinoa for that purpose already.

So. What to do with the near-full box of flakes?

The box itself included a serving suggestion / recipe for quinoa pancakes, and this led me to think of quinoa pikelets. To provide sweetness, apple and sultanas entered the equation. Fruit was something my Mum routinely added to pikelets when she made them for us as children, and I always enjoyed the contrast in texture and flavour.

I had in mind that pikelets were an English creation, and thought I might need to explain their nature to Americans. However, some brief research on the origins of pikelets turned up a few things that I didn't know. Most notably, they are actually unique to Australia and New Zealand, a discovery that took me by surprise.

Australian  pikelets are effectively a small American pancake, with similar ingredients, texture and flavour, but they typically have some sugar or sweetness added to the batter, along with raising agents, whereas pancakes may not.

In contrast, in some parts of England the term pikelet is applied to a variation of crumpets or drop scones, and English pikelets are more like those products than the small pancakes typical in Australia.

How did Australian pikelets go with the addition of quinoa flakes? Well, even better than I had hoped. I certainly don't think I'll be having any trouble finishing off the flakes...in fact, the only problem I had with this recipe was the resulting challenge of not eating all of the pikelets in one go!

Apple and sultana quinoa pikelets

Makes 16 pikelets

Vegan and low in fat

Best served warm, and most enjoyable straight after cooking; however, can be stored in an airtight container for several days

Print recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup self-raising flour (see note below regarding gluten-free alternatives)

1/4 cup quinoa flakes

1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

Egg replacer to the equivalent of 1 egg, or 1 egg (I fully intended to use a chia egg here, but ended up using commercial egg replacer without thinking)

3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)

1 medium apple, peeled and diced

1/4 cup sultanas (small raisins)

Oil spray for coating the pan

Method

Combine the flour, quinoa flakes and bicarbonate soda in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, prepare your egg replacer or egg. Add to the dry mixture along with the milk, and stir well to combine. Mix through the diced apple and sultanas.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drop dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the pan. I did 3 pikelets at a time. Cook until bubbles start to appear (1 - 2 minutes) and then flip and repeat, so both sides are browned. Repeat for the other pikelets.

You could serve these with jam or honey, but I loved them plain. Really, really loved them in fact - the quinoa added a depth of flavour and slight nuttiness, as is typically of the grain, whilst the apple and sultanas provided sufficient but not excessive sweetness. They were fluffy and light, but also slightly thicker than standard pikelets, I imagine due to the quinoa. 

As a final benefit? These take about 20 minutes to prepare and cook.

Which is good, because I can see myself making them on a very regular basis.

If you prefer or require gluten-free recipes, these would also be an easy product to adapt to that purpose. I'm quite keen to try them again with 1/2 cup self-raising flour and a 1/4 cup each of quinoa flakes and oats. I think using oat flour or spelt flour in place of the wheat would work well if desired, but you would need to add 1/4 - 1/2 tsp baking powder to allow them to rise.

Now, are you familiar with pikelets in the above form? Or even an alternative, English version of the product?
Have you tried quinoa flakes in any other ways?

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