Quick and Easy Pancakes With Stuff You Probably Have in Your Pantry (vegan and Gluten-free If You Want!)

I grew up in New Zealand, where culinary traditions are a weird mix of English, Maori, Asian and more. People don't usually consider New Zealand as a place to explore gastronomy, but for me a lot of my comfort food still comes from these early habits.

Pancakes was one of our favourite traditions as kids, for special days like Christmas morning, Mother or Father's day, birthdays... and it's an ongoing tradition I love to share with friends and family.

As the years went by, my family moved to Europe, I grew up and became a student and then a person with a job, but there's always pancakes when needed.

When I was a student, although I loved cooking, I didn't have a very big budget for food. At the same time, I learned about eating vegetarian and vegan, and thought I'd give it a try. I think the thing that bumped me into starting to eat vegan was a morning I wanted pancakes, but didn't have eggs or milk for our traditional New Zealand recipe (they're too expensive and after breaking a carton of eggs in my backpack on my way back home I swore to myself I'd never buy them again). So, without much thought, I went on to make vegan pancakes, that are very similar to the original ones, but without eggs and milk! These are family approved (yes, even by the holder of the original recipe), are made with very few ingredients that you probably already have, easily adaptable if you want to be inventive, and great to share!

I've made these pancakes at home, at friend's places after crashing overnight, in hostels with ingredients found in the "sharing" bin, in kid's winter camps for a group of 40, and more times than I can count. Kids can also be involved in most steps, use your judgement on their abilities and safety when near and using the cooking stove! If you make the batter vegan like I do, it's safe to eat when uncooked.

A note to end this introduction: this is my favourite recipe, and it is vegan. But don't feel obliged to make it vegan if you're not! My siblings eat them with whipped cream and bacon. My mum often insisted to put an egg from her chooks in the batter. It can also be made gluten free (I tested it with buckwheat flour and a gluten-free flour mix with success). If you want to try something new, go for it and be creative!

This recipe makes about 6 medium pancakes, enough in my experience to feed 2-3 adults with a medium appetite. Just multiply all the ingredients if you want more. Pancakes keep well in the fridge on a covered plate for a couple of days, you can reheat them in the microwave. Make pikelets, or mini-pancakes, with leftover batter, they make perfect snacks!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup flour (I usually do white or whole wheat, buckwheat and gluten-free mix also work)
• 1/4 cup sugar (white or brown), if you're sensitive to sugar like me you can go for 1-2 tablespoons instead
• 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder, or 1 packet
• A splash of neutral oil (sunflower or rapeseed, but if you're adventurous you can also go for olive)
• 1 1/4 cup water or milk (plant-based or dairy, but water works just fine)

Toppings (suggestions):

• Maple syrup (a classic)
• Lemon juice and sugar (my favourite)
• Whipped cream
• Chocolate spread
• Yoghurt
• Fresh fruit
• Apple sauce
• Jam
• Ice-cream

Utensils:

• Large mixing bowl
• Measuring cup (a re-usable festival EcoCup is also great)
• Whip
• (or a kitchen robot instead of the bowl and whip)
• Non-stick pan
• Ladle
• Spatula to flip the pancakes

Take your large mixing bowl, and add in all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar and baking powder. Gently mix them together, then dig a crater in the centre. Add a splash of oil in your crater (something like 1 or 2 tablespoons if you really want to measure), and if you want to add an egg you can also do that now.

Next step is to progressively add water (or milk) and whip up the batter. 1 1/4 cups of water is a good reference, but sometimes depending on the type of flour you might need more or less. I like to pour in about 1/2 cup in the bowl and start mixing but staying in the centre of the bowl, then progressively add water and "fetch" the dry mix to add in the batter. I find that doing this reduces the lumpiness of the batter.

Now the hardest thing to explain in writing is how to find the right texture for the batter: we want it quite thick, it's not supposed to be runny like crepes batter (never managed these anyway), but not as thick as say a cake batter. If in doubt err on the side of a little too thick because it's easier to add a bit of water later rather than try thickening it up.

Now that our batter is ready, it's time to make our pancakes! If you're baking with kids I'd recommend doing the first pancakes together to adjust the heat of the stove (it can be tricky!), and then if you're confident in their abilities they can even prepare some pancakes on their own. Once again, be cautious around the cooking stove and don't leave them unsupervised.

Finding the right settings:

On induction plates, I find it pretty straightforward as going for a "medium" heat usually works pretty well, and doesn't require too much adjustment. However on a vitroceramic cooktop, the heat builds up much more slowly and I usually go for a higher setting to heat up the pan then lower it after the first couple of pancakes. On the other side, gas stoves usually heat up pretty quick and the heat can be too "centred", so I prefer using a thicker pan to spread out the heat, and go for a lower heat setting.

Making the pancakes:

Prepare your pan: oil it by dabbing some neutral oil on a paper towel, and wiping it across your pan (careful to not burn your fingers here). You'll also want to do that in between each pancakes, it helps them to not stick to the pan and also cleans up the little bits that would otherwise burn if they stay in the pan too long.

Heat up your pan on the stove using a "medium" heat. If it's your first time making pancakes or in a particular kitchen this is gonna be experimental in the beginning. Using a ladle, pour batter in the pan. If the pan is at the right temperature it should nicely sizzle. The batter should gently flow to form a circular shape. If not we'll look at some troubleshooting below.

Watch your pancake make bubbles: that's where all the maple syrup can stay! If everything is right, you'll observe the bubbles forming and erupt leaving small craters in the pancake. Once the surface of the pancake is covered in these small craters and the batter is not liquid any more, flip over the pancake and cook the other side until it is light brown.

You can now start feeding your guests, or stack them all up in a plate and serve them all at the same time.

If you've never made pancakes, or if your equipment is different than mine, or if you changed some ingredients (which is certainly the case), you might try making your first pancakes and be like "how the hell did they expect me to do this".

I'm sorry. Explaining all of this is hard, and even I, after decades of pancake-making, often end up with a sad floppy pancake or a burnt brick if I'm in an unfamiliar kitchen.

So let's look at how we can troubleshoot your pancakes. Hopefully this will help you in getting a feeling on what could be going wrong and how to make it better.

Too runny: If your batter is too runny, it will ungracefully splosh off the pan, and make a very thin and irregular shape. The bubbles will probably form and then be re-absorbed without leaving neat craters behind. Add some flour to your batter, mix it well to avoid lumps, and try again.

Too thick: if the batter is too thick, it won't spread out on the pan and you'll have a thick lumpy blob on your pan, that won't cook evenly. Add a little bit of water to the batter and try again.

No bubbles: Check your baking powder. If it's too old or has been open a long time it might not be good any more. You can also try adding a bit more if you think it's too weak. I've tried making pancakes with dry bread yeast when I couldn't find baking powder. It didn't work.

Pan too hot: if your pan is too hot, the bottom of your pancake will start to burn before the top has fully dried out. Flip the pancake before it burns to save it, and lower the heat.

Pan not hot enough: if the pan is not hot enough, the bubbles might have trouble forming, and your pancake will not be very tanned on the underside. Gently increase the heat for the next one.

With leftover batter, or when you have enough large pancakes, you can make mini pancakes that we call pikelets! Kids love them, they're great for snacks. Make a pile of them and before you realise they'll be gone. If not they keep in the fridge a couple of days and you can reheat them in the microwave or even in the toaster if you're brave.

Be creative with your toppings, have fun, and add all you want on top! Maple syrup with whipped cream with strawberries with chocolate chips? Yes please! Ice-cream with syrup and chocolate liquor? Go for it!

Alternatively, if you wanna keep it "healthy", they're delicious with fresh fruit and yoghurt.

If you successfully reach this step, please share pictures of your delicious creations!

If you're wondering how to heat them, I usually eat pancakes from a plate with a knife and fork. I learned that I shouldn't expect everyone else to do the same as me and you can totally eat them with your hands.

Make pancake stacks, funky shaped pancakes, teeny tiny pancakes, and share with your friends!