Raspberry & Buttermilk Pancakes

Happy New Year!  With January comes resolutions of healthy eating, more exercise etc etc.  I don't generally believe in diets - I think life is all about balance - balancing on your toes on the edge of the scales generally gives you a lower weight reading.  


That of course isn't what I really mean.  I generally watch what I eat in the week, trying to err on the side of healthy, while indulging more at the weekend. However after Christmas I did feel I wanted to kick start myself back into a healthy eating mode so I dug out an old book about GI recipes.  I don't really see GI food as a diet as such but a general way of eating quite healthily.  Since first reading the book several years ago I've probably adopted some GI ways of eating without even realising, such as always buying brown rice and occasionally using wholewheat pasta (it just doesn't taste as good though) among other things. 


So this week I'll be cooking recipes from this book and I thought I'd start it with these delicious  pancakes.  I was surprised to find the recipe on which I've based them in amongst the others but apparently buttermilk is low in fat and the rest of the ingredients are pretty healthily.  I even swapped the sweetener listed in the ingredients for Agave Nectar so it contains even less sugar than listed.  I did use less buttermilk than in the recipe so I didn't have to buy 2 tubs. I made up the difference with normal milk.  I also added some raspberries into the mixture which gave a lovely fruity hit when eating them.  


This is my entry into this month's Breakfast Club Challenge which is being hosted this month by Food, Je t'aimee.  The theme this month is January Detox and in light of the fact these pancakes are a pretty healthy option I thought they would fit nicely.


The Repice (Adapted from Living the GI Diet)


240g wholemeal flour
1 tbpn baking powder
1 tspn agave nectar
300ml buttermilk
150ml milk
2 eggs
2 tbspns rapeseed oil
150g raspberries


1.  Mix together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl whisk together all the other ingredients except the raspberries. Then whisk into the dry ingredients. Fold in the raspberries, saving a few to add to the cooked pancakes.
2. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a frying pan. Add dollops of the mixture. Wait until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes then turn over and cook for another couple of minutes.
3. Serve with the remaining fresh raspberries and a drizzle of honey.

Buttermilk & Brown Sugar Cake

At last my new little bundt tin gets an outing with this cake whose recipe I found in Stella magazine.  It's a pretty simple pound type cake but the brown sugar and buttermilk combo does give it an unusual flavour (in a good way).  It would be great served with some macerated berries - I didn't get round to doing those but think it needed something slightly sharp to go with it.


Recipe


250g plain flour
1/4 tspn baking powder
pinch of salt
150g butter
300g soft brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tspn vanilla extract
finely grated zest of l lemon
150ml buttermilk
icing sugar, for sifting


1.  Preheat the oven to 160c/gas mark 3.  Butter a cake/bundt tin.
2.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.  Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy then add the eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and lemon.
3.  Fold in the dry ingredients, alternating with big spoonfuls of buttermilk.  Pour into the tin and bake for 90 mins.  
4.  Turn the cake out on to a wire rack and leave to cool. Sift icing sugar over it once cooled.