Scones and Pancakes with Love…

I loved to bake as a kid. My mum came from a large family who baked and sewed… a lot!

When I was around 10 years old (I think) cooking scones was my forte. They are simple, easy and a recipe that can be played with depending on what you feel like.

We would often stay with my Nana on weekends and every Saturday afternoon I would mooch around her kitchen and whip up a batch of scones. I loved cooking in her kitchen, the utensils, bowls, measuring implements were “vintage” even back then and full of so much character.

Anything cooked out of her kitchen tasted different… a good different, there was so much love that went into the food that was produced from there.

Regardless of how my scones turned out that day, everyone sat around the kitchen table set with a pot of tea dressed in a cosy, china tea cups with matching plates (we all had our own dedicated set), an array of jams, cream and of course the featured scones of the day.

To this day, scones give me joy and always remind me of my Nana, my Aunty Bobbie, my mum and family times around that kitchen table.

168 (2) — My Nana’s table at the end of a meal during Christmas time in the 80’s

Sunday afternoon voids at home were sometimes filled with a scone of some description. Dad was always up for scones with “dead ants”, loosely interpreted as currents. On those days I pretty much left them to him – not my favourite.

Other variations I would play with were cheese, sultanas, choc chips, prunes, herbs or take a lucky dip with what was in the cupboard. I loved to cook what mum or dad felt like, made me feel good.

On a rare day off work not so long ago, I decided to cook scones for an after school snack. I do enjoy when I get this unexpected day off. I’ve only cooked them once for my kids, to the point that my youngest had no idea what they were… ooops

So with a little helper, we made 2 variations and used a fun cookie cutter.

I was very disappointed though, that I could no longer remember the recipe by heart! Nothing Google and Pintrest didn’t solve.

I was very disappointed with the recipe I used so if you have one to share I’d love to try it!

I love sharing the kitchen with the kids, my youngest “helped”, he just loves to help in the kitchen.

It’s so much easier to get them to try new food when they’ve helped make it. Even though the scones were not great, the kids and hubby enjoyed them and there were none left.

Thanks to mum my kids have also developed a love of pancakes. They love to help her make them and she will always make them if they ask.

Now I’m the furthest thing to a great or even mediocre chef, but just like scones, I like to experiment with pancakes too. I use a basic recipe from my stored Cookbook at Taste.com you can find here. I play with the ingredient measurements depending on what type of pancakes we feel like.

Experimenting only came about when my youngest asked if we could make chocolate pancakes one morning. He stumped me initially, not having too much knowledge with ingredients but hey, let’s give it a go!

I had no chocolate of any description in the house so we popped some cocoa in the mixture. This at least had the desired result and turned the mixture a chocolate brown colour. They must have tasted ok because there were none left.

Since that first chocolate pancake creation day we have experimented with adding chopped chocolate, Milo, sprinkles or banana – any combination of the moment. I also started to experiment with gluten free flour with mixed results and I think I’m nearly there with that one. It was disappointing when I would sit down to eat breakfast with them and have cereal while they enjoyed their pancakes.

It’s far more social when we eat them and enjoy them together.

To this day my youngest helper knows exactly what ingredients to get out, which bowls we use, the measuring utensils we need and knows if he does the leg work , he’s more likely to have pancakes for breakfast…