Dried Raspberries and White Chocolate Pancakes



Pancake Day is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm in the UK every February and it’s a tradition I have come to love over the years of living in the UK.

In first year of University, I was assigned to live in a flat with 7 other girls. Four of the girls were older than the rest of us and were doing their second degrees. This meant that they were a bit more mature and serious about cleanliness, chores and being quiet compared to the 4 18/19 year olds who cared more about partying and laughing and doing ridiculously things in the kitchen, causing lots of noise and subsequently lots of arguments with the 4 older flatmates. When Pancake Day arrived, the 4 older girls got together and made lots of pancakes and did not offer any to us. So come midnight we thought it would be funny to ‘spike’ their leftover pancake batter with things like vinegar and lemon juice.

The next day we converged to the kitchen hoping that the batter would have gone off, instead the older girls commented how lovely the pancakes! Major fail on our part. And till today I have no idea how the pancake batter survived the huge lashings of vinegar and lemon juice!

In conjunction with Pancake Day I made these Dried Raspberries and White Chocolate Pancakes. I used my standard pancake recipe which yields fluffy, tasty American style pancakes and to make it special I added half cups of dried raspberries and white chocolate chips to the mixture.

This adaptation was a great hit as the sweetness from the chocolate chips was balanced by the tartness of the dried raspberries. I’ll definitely be making these again soon!
NB: Although the raspberries aren’t visible on the surface of the pancakes, rest assured that each mouthful is a laden filled with chocolate and chewy bits of fruit.

Dried Raspberries and White Chocolate Pancakes

Makes about 10 medium sized pancakes

Adapted from BBC Good Food

Ingredients

200g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 egg
300 ml milk
½ tbsp melted butter
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup dried raspberries
A little butter for cooking

Method
  1. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix egg and milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture into it, whisking to create a thick batter.
  2. Whisk in the melted butter until fully incorporated and gently stir in the chocolate chips and raspberries.
  3. Heat a non stick pan with a small amount of butter. Drop a large tablespoon of pancake batter in the pan and cook for 2-3 mins until small bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook for a few more minutes. Pancakes should fluff up during cooking process.
  4. Remove and keep warm by covering the pancakes with kitchen paper, while the rest of batter is used up.