Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

With all the talk about Pancake Day coming up and seeing pictures of pancakes in grocery store magazines, I woke up this morning and had to make some.  Having some lovely lavender and fresh blueberries on hand I thought they'd make a great combination and I wasn't wrong! :)

Below, I have shown the ingredients that I used, but you could certainly change a few things if you preferred.  For example, I felt like a more wholesome pancake and used wholemeal flour, but you could replace this with white flour, or even use 1 cup of each.  Also, you could use regular milk instead of the almond milk, and/or replace the creme fraiche with buttermilk or sour cream.  As mentioned, I used a pestle and mortar to crush the lavender, but you could use a food processor or coffee grinder.

Lavender Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups wholemeal flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp dried lavender (gently crushed in a pestle & mortar)
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs butter - melted
1-1/4 cups almond milk
200g tub creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla
200g punnet fresh blueberries


In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lavender, sugar and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, creme fraiche and vanilla.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and gently mix until combined. The mixture will be a bit lumpy. Stir in the blueberries.

Heat a well greased pan and pour in a large spoonful of batter. Cook until little bubbles start appearing on the top, then flip over and cook a couple of minutes on the other side. Remove pancake to a plate and keep warm. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Serve with lavender honey butter and an extra drizzle of honey, or whatever else takes your fancy.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Blueberry & Apple Chia Muffins

It's always nice to add a little extra from the garden - in this case, from our apple trees - to a baked treat!

Ingredients - (makes approx. 12 muffins)

1 cup fresh Blueberries
1 Apple - peeled and chopped
1/4 cup Chia seeds - ground
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup plain flour
60g butter
3 tbsp honey
2 large eggs - beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup creme fraiche (or sour cream)


Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Rinse the blueberries and leave on a paper napkin to dry.  Peel and roughly chop the apple and set aside.

Melt the butter with honey.

Sift the ground chia seeds with the flours and baking powder into a large bowl.  Stir the chopped apple into the flour.

In a small bowl, roughly beat the eggs with the vanilla, the pour in the butter mixture and the creme fraiche.  Stir until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and apple mixture.  Mix lightly with a fork, until just combined.  Carefully fold in the blueberries, without crushing.

Put spoonfuls of the mixture into well-greased muffin pans - approx. 3/4 full.  Bake in oven for approx. 20 minutes, or until well risen and golden.  Transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy warm, or cold!

I usually try to double the recipe so there are some muffins left to freeze for another time.  They make a healthy and delicious snack!

Caryl ♥