Bill Granger's Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup

Bill Granger's Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
Home Cooking



Sunday night. I am sick as a dawg (all my boasts of 'I haven't been sick all year!' have finally come back to bite me) but that hasn't stopped late-night sugar cravings.



Being my lazy self, grocery shopping was avoided all last week and the pantry and fridge are barren. Despite this, I managed to locate enough basics (i.e. flour, eggs, milk) to start thinking about whipping up a batch of muffins or cookies. That proved to be too much effort and I was on the verge of giving up when I spotted Bill Granger's recipe for oaty hotcakes.

I consider Granger's ricotta hotcake recipe as one of the holy grails of my cooking repertoire. I figured that if the success would transcend to the oat version, it would surely be worthwhile.

Because I was only intending this to be a snack (we already had eaten dinner AND dessert), I could not justify making the full amount of batter, for fear that we would actually finish it all. I divided the original recipe by 3. You'll see that this is highly difficult because it involves using 1/3 of an egg. For that reason, I've published the FULL recipe that is meant to serve 4. My photos will show smaller amounts of everything so just use them as a guide.

Oaty Hotcakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 185 g plain flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 large pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
• 1 pinche salt
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 25 g rolled oats
• 375 ml buttermilk (I used regular milk)
• 1 medium egg, beaten
• 35 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• 125g blueberries (I used frozen)
• 100g maple syrup

Procedure:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the oats and sugar.2. Mix in the buttermilk and egg.3. Add the melted butter and stir.
4. Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan on medium heat and wipe away the excess with a paper towel.
5. Dollop the batter into the frying pan. I used 2 teaspoons per hotcake and only did 3 per batch to allow for easy flipping.
6. Wait until bubbles start appearing before flipping. Each side should be golden before serving.7. Meanwhile, to make the blueberry maple syrup, mix the blueberries and maple syrup in a non-stick saucepan. Bring to the boil and lower the heat. Simmer for around 10min.8. Serve the hotcakes straight away with the blueberry maple syrup.


I was surprised at how nice and easy the blueberry maple syrup was. I normally whip up a butterscotch for my hotcakes but this was also good and seems a bit 'healthier' (can't guarantee that though).


As for the hotcakes themselves, well I'm aware that I messed up with the quantities a bit but the end result wasn't too fabulous. They weren't bad but nowhere near as good as the ricotta hotcakes. Just not as fluffy and soft. I did like the chewiness of the oats... it would be nice to have both the fluffiness and the chewiness. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.