Snowy Sunday Brunch

fluffy pancakes topped with banana,
toasted nuts and caramel pouring sauce.

It's been snowing all week in Durham and shows no sign of letting up! Normally I'm a bit of a grinch when it comes to snow, refusing to leave the house without at least fourteen items of clothing on (I won't list them.) and grumbling about the slush on the pavements. But last night we all went for dinner together as a house and on the way home I somehow found myself participating in a snowball fight. With red faces and sodden gloves we finally made it home, via a little "sledging" on the back alleys, at midnight and snuggled into bed.

This morning we woke up to yet more snow and hunkered down in the kitchen for brunch. Maddy, Hayley and Hannah braved the outdoors and joined us, bringing pastries and juice. We made a huge pot of tea and I whipped up some american pancakes. I'm pretty sure brunch is the best thing ever invented.

Getting rather tired of these plates.

It's also a wonderful meal to host because it's so laid back. No worrying about matching glasses or dressing up.

I can't really give you a recipe for toasted nuts. Just chop them up and roast them on a tray in a medium oven for no more than 7 minutes or they'll burn.

The caramel sauce was a bit of a guess because I substituted brown sugar in for white and followed a recipe whose instructions were based on the sugar changing colour... oops. I managed to get it right (and super tasty) somehow! The pancake recipe, however, I will give you :)

Fluffy Pancakes (fed ten of us)

405 g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons of sugar, caster is best
3 beaten eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
390 ml semi-skimmed milk

Weigh out the dry ingredients and sieve into a large mixing bowl. Put the milk, eggs and melted butter into another bowl and whisk together. Make a hollow in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients all at once and whisk until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Put a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat and melt some butter. Ladle your mixture into the pan, it won't spread out much so just let size be your guide. Once the little pancake is solid enough to flip, flip it. (This will take about 2 minutes, and the top will have bubbles of air coming through as it rises.)

Fill the table with whatever toppings you like (though I can't think of anything better than bananas, nuts and caramel...) Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven and let everyone eat together.