Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes)
Sometimes its hard to know what to do with your kids when they are home. If yours are anything like mine then you want to get them away from screens and doing something practical. My Daughter loves to be in the kitchen cooking with me but sometimes it’s hard to find a recipe that has simple steps she can manage.
I’ve found that ‘Drop Scones’ are a great choice because they are so simple that you don’t even need a scale & they give a delicious end product. One batch makes about ten to fifteen small pancakes (depending on how heavy handed you are). My husband’s family used to buy these from the supermarket when he was a child. Apparently they were known as ‘Scotch Pancakes’ (ahh the seventies).
Ingredients
Frying pan with some oil
Something to mix in (I usually use a glass mixing jug)
Plain flour
Baking powder (you can use self-raising flour if you don’t have this but I like to go ‘old school’)
A tablespoon for measuring
Granulated white or Demerara sugar (you can substitute honey if you prefer).
Milk
One Egg
Pinch of salt
Method
Ok, so we start by measuring out our flour (four heaped tablespoons) & our sugar (two spoons) into the jug. I rarely bother with sieving; it all just gets clumped up again in the mixing bowl anyway.
Crack in the egg (little ones often find it easier to crack it into a cup first). Clean away the inevitable bits of shell that have fallen into the mix and then add some baking powder (not more than a level teaspoonful should be adequate). Pop in a pinch of salt & you are ready to ‘dry mix’.
This helps to even out the ingredients so that we don’t end up with a bunch of flour slyly hiding at the bottom of the bowl later on!
I usually use a butter knife to ‘chop in’ the dry mix. This can be a bit stiff for little ones so they will probably need some assistance. But let’s be honest; you weren’t about to let them loose in the kitchen without supervision in any case. Fire insurance is a great thing to have but I prefer my cooking sessions with the kids to not result in structural damage.
Once your ingredients are evenly distributed you are ready to add the milk. Don’t go crazy here, just add a little bit at a time or you will end up with a mix that is too thin. We are aiming for a consistency like thick wallpaper paste (can you tell I don’t like measurements). Keep on stirring as you go. You can gamble and let the kids try an electric hand mixer if you like but be prepared to have your kitchen walls redecorated as a result. I usually stick with hand mixing (think of it as an additional calorie burning work out which will neutralise the fattening effects of the pancakes).
Now you are ready to make tiny pancakes. Heat up some oil in the pan. I usually get kids to pour some in and then use kitchen roll to spread it around & remove the excess as they often put enough in to shallow fry a portion of chips.
When it’s nice and hot you should take a table spoon of mixture and dribble in onto the pan. You are aiming for your pancakes to be no bigger than the size of a jam jar lid. I can usually get around six on the pan. Once they are showing bubbles it’s time to flip them.
For heaven’s sake don’t try any pan flipping nonsense, this isn’t the generation game. Ideally use a nice flexible slice or a wooden flat spatula to get underneath and whip them over before gravity gets an idea of what is happening. Encourage your children to hold the spatula near the bottom rather than by the handle as this will give them more control.
And there you have it, drop scones. Perfect with a bit of butter or honey on the side. You may feel the need to take your children out into the garden afterwards and give them a wash down with the hose. How did they get so messy?
I often substitute and old mashed up banana for milk or add cinnamon, raisons or other bits. Have a go and let me know how you get on and what you tried.