Our Famous Fern House Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4 to 6


430g plain flour
85g icing sugar
4 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
550ml buttermilk
55g unsalted butter a splash of sunflower oil
120g fresh blueberries

For the macadamia praline:
100g macadamia nuts
160g caster sugar
50ml water
½ tsp butter a pinch of flaky sea salt


For the berry compote:
250g fresh or frozen strawberries
60g fresh or frozen raspberries
60g fresh or frozen blueberries
50g caster sugar


To Serve
Greek Yogurt
Maple Syrup

METHOD



Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a small baking tray with non-stick baking paper and have it sitting on your countertop, ready to go for the praline.


Scatter the macadamia nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, until light golden.


Meanwhile, put the sugar and water in a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. Allow it to cook without stirring until it begins to turn a medium-brown colour. This could take up to 10 minutes. It will continue to cook and reach a deeper brown, so don’t let it go too dark. Turn off the heat and swirl the melted sugar gently around the pot – don’t stir it or the caramel might clump up.


Once the caramel is ready, add the butter and allow it to melt, swirling to combine, then add the toasted macadamia nuts. Immediately pour it out onto the baking paper and spread it out with a spatula as best you can, then sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt and let it cool. Caramel is molten hot, so do not be tempted to lick the spoon! Once the praline has cooled and hardened, break it into small pieces and set aside


To make the berry compote, put all the berries and the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, crushing the berries with a wooden spoon. If using frozen berries, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes to thaw the berries, then remove the cover and continue to simmer. The compote should be reduced and thick, more like a syrup than a jam, and it will thicken as it cools. Remove from the heat and set aside.


To make the pancakes, sieve the flour, icing sugar and baking powder together into a large bowl.


Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together, then fold this into the dry ingredients until you have a smooth batter but take care not to overmix or your pancakes will be tough.


Melt some of the butter and a splash of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Working in batches so that you don’t overcrowd the pan, add spoonfuls of the batter and cook 1 minute before sprinkling a few blueberries on top of each one, pushing them down gently into the batter. Cook for about 2 minutes more – when you see bubbles forming on top of the pancakes, flip them over and cook the other side for 2–3 minutes, until golden. Repeat with the rest of the butter and the batter.


To serve, stack up the pancakes on plates and spoon over some Greek yogurt and berry compote. Drizzle with maple syrup and top with the macadamia nut praline.

For lots more delicious recipes, try our Avoca at Home Cookbook!