Lettus - Finnish Pancakes

Lettus. I have grown up eating these thin crepe-like Finnish pancakes. I love that this is a recipe that comes from memory and I love making them when a sweet treat is required. Eaten with jam and cream, is the only way to enjoy this simple treat. Place a strip of jam and cream across the top and roll down into a roll.

Ingredients:

Plain Flour, Milk, 1 Egg, Pinch Salt, 1 Tbsp Sugar

Add 1 cup or more of milk.

Add egg, salt and sugar. Combine.

Add flour until you get a thick soup consistency.

Add more milk or flour if the consistency needs to be played with.

Cook as you would any pancake in a really hot pan.

Sprinkle each with white sugar as you stack them on the plate.

*I don't know if it is a normal practice for everyone, but I add butter/margarine to the pan each time I cook a lettu.

ENJOY!

Perfect Pancake Pursuit

I am on the pursuit for the perfect pancake recipe... Pursuit is a bit of an overkill but I couldn't come up with another P verb... [Stacking of pancakes while cooking is a must!]

Pancakes for breakfast, on the weekend, has become a bit of a family ritual of late. I am still to find the ultimate recipe though. Most times I try new ones from the net: the criteria for the recipes need to be 2 things: simple ingrediants with a simple method. Who wants to cook anything if it is too complicated?

Basic Pancake Recipe From Taste.com.au

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 25g butter, melted

Method

1. Whisk milk, egg and vanilla together in a jug. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Add milk mixture. Whisk until just combined.
   
2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush pan with butter. Using 1/4 cup mixture per pancake, cook 2 pancakes for 3 to 4 minutes or until bubbles appear on surface. Turn and cook for 3 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining mixture, brushing pan with butter between batches. Serve.

The Lemon Tree

We have lived in our home for almost 2 years now. When we first moved in we had this beautiful big lemon tree ~ full of fruit... the visions of yummy lemon slice and homemade lemonade were on the horizon. Although much to my dismay it was full of gall wasp*, so the whole thing had to be cut down and burnt. Every single juicy lemon was burnt or with much fun (to my husband and son) 'pegged' into the damn.

Well a year and a half on and we are finally full of lemons and thriving once again. I have taken care to prune the tree regularily and remove any lemons with scale, lots of spraying and the result has been some very BIG juicy sweet lemons. It is so nice being able to give out produce from your own garden: lemons anyone?

*Citrus Gall Wasp: Lumpy growths on young leaf stems, leaf mid-ribs and fruit stalks of citrus trees are caused by a pest called the citrus gall wasp (Bruchophagus fellis). All citrus trees are attacked, but grapefruit and rough lemons are the most susceptible.    

First times a treat...

I saw a similar version of this cake on another site and thought I would love to try it. Although I had to wait to have guests over as this is too much of a treat to have all to ourselves.

"YUMMY sponge filled with a layer of lemon curd and fresh cream, topped with more fresh cream and a cluster of berries at the top."

I am a little Masterchef inspired at the moment and have been enjoying cooking; and cooking new things too. There is a first time for everything!

This is my first sponge cake and the first time I put together this cake.

.... And it worked a treat.

A few yummy things:

CREAM ~ Instead of just whipping some thickened cream I always add some white sugar and vanilla essence. Just tops it off.

BERRIES ~ Not just your ordinary berries, these were frozen, defrosted and sugar coated.