Pikelets were actually one of the first things I learnt from scratch - and cooking them is one of my strongest early food memories.
Pikelets are kind of an Australian thing. They're little mini pancakes that can be eaten warm or at room temperature and are always a kid favourite.
My pikelet memories all happened at my neighbour, Audrey's, house. Growing up my Nanna lived four hours away, but Audrey was always my stand in Grandma. She was an older lady who lived next door and I remember squeezing through the gaps in the hedges between our houses and hopping the stepping stones to reach her arched front door.
Once I was inside the house, we'd make our way down the hallway and to her kitchen at the back of the house. There, in front of the window overlooking the garden, her electric frying pan would be heating up with butter sizzling away as it melted.
We'd crack the eggs and mix the flour and before I knew it, we were ready to cook.
She'd hand me a spoon and I'd drop lumpy spoonfuls of batter onto the hot frying pan, listening to the batter sizzle as it hit the butter inside.
We'd wait, carefully watching the pikelets as they were cooking and Audrey would flip them over to reveal the golden goodness underneath. One by one the pikelets would be stacked up on a plate, cooling whilst we cooked the rest of the batter.
It probably felt like a lifetime to four year old me, but soon enough they were ready to eat. Spread with butter and jam, Audrey and I sat down to our afternoon tea for two.
I can still hear her voice in my head - slightly husky but with raised notes at the end of each sentence. I can see her round glasses and her curly silver hair and I can still remember the pikelets on her florallychina plates.A food memory that's lasted 20 years and one that I hope I'll be able to recreate with my kids (or neighbours!) one day in the future.
These pikelets are a little bit differently to Audrey's. They're gluten free, egg free, dairy free and vegan - but they're still delicious - and still memory worthy.
So let me share the recipe with you! >>
The Best Vegan Pancakes Recipe
serves one, easily multiplied
gluten free, vegan, sugar free, clean eating recipe, egg free,
dairy free, nut free, low fat, kid friendly, freezer friendly
1/2 cup (60g) gluten free plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk of your choice (we used unsweetened almond milk)
1 tbsp (15g) applesauce
1 tsp maple syrup*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat a non stickfrying pan over a medium heat whilst you prepare your batter.
- To make your pancake batter, mix all of your ingredients until combined. It will be quite thick and potentially a little lumpy but a few lumps are okay as long as all ingredients are incorporated.
- Once your pan is heated, lightly grease with butter or coconut oil and place heaped tablespoons of your pikelet mix in the pan.
- Carefully spread the batter out to form circular pikelets (or whatever shape you fancy) and cook for 1-2 minutes or until your pikelets are golden on the bottom.
- Flip and cook until golden on the other side, making sure your pikelets are cooked through. If your pikelets are browning too quickly, turn down the heat.
- Repeat until all of your pikelet batter is used up and enjoy warm or allow to cool before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.
- These pikelets will keep for 2-3 days in a container in the refridgerator and can be served however you fancy. Try them with butter and maple syrup, whipped cream and jam, peanut butter, nutella, fresh fruit or whatever you feel like!
*If you want sweeter pikelets, use more maple syrup - or you can switch this for coconut sugar or white sugar and increase as desired.
But tell me, what are some of your earliest food memories?
Did you have an cooking role model as a child?
When I was little, I thought Audrey was wonderful for letting her cook with me - but I also had a bunch of other cooking role models. A family friend, Fay, made the best banana cake in the world (which I recreated here) and my Mum was the most incredible cake decorator (or so I thought - I had just about every Women's Weekly Cake imaginable) even though she wasn't a baker!
