3 Fruity Pancake recipes inspired by Robinson’s

We’ve long been fans of pancake day, or rather pancakes. I remember as a child my mum would make classic British pancakes, thin and crispy, with lashings of sugar and lemon. Then as I got older and we visited New York I discovered the heaven that is American pancakes. Thick and fluffy, coated in shiny maple syrup with sweet cured bacon. It’s enough to make the mouth water isn’t it? Now though, I find myself experimenting with pancakes to try and suit my kid’s palette, but at the same time to make our pancakes more of one of their five a day as opposed to just a dessert. No one wants to send their children to school bouncing off the walls do they?

It’s been half term here and we’ve been enjoying the chance to practice with pancakes and oodles of fruit. We were challenged by Robinsons, our favourite squash made with real fruit in every drop and no added sugar, to channel our inner pancake mastery into creating three recipes inspired by their delicious flavours.

We loved making these. I am rather precious over what the kids drink – when I first had Reuben, he would get very hyper from apple juice something that he absolutely adores so I refused to allow him to have it other than on special occasions, and even when watered down. Robinsons is super low in calories, just 4 per 250ml glass, and doesn’t send him hyper at all with real fruit included. It is a great way for us to compromise. He has the flavour in his drink that I know he loves, and I don’t have to try and calm him down from the ceiling. Win win!

So what did we come up with?

For the pancakes in each recipe:

• 135g/4¾oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 130ml/4½fl oz milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter or olive oil

Mix all dry ingredients and add the lightly beaten egg and milk. Combine until smooth. Heat the pan until hot then add a scoop of mixture. Fry for 30-40 seconds until browning, then flip and cook on the other side.

Pancakes with kiwi & forest fruit coulis

• 1 1/2 cups strawberries
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 2-3 kiwis

1.    Blend half the strawberries, the raspberries and the blueberries together in a food processor. At this point you can either just place in a bowl and add the icing sugar, or you can place through a sieve to remove the seeds from the fruit and make the fruit coulis completely smooth.

2.    Cook the pancakes.

3.    Remove the skin from the kiwi and slice.

4.    Add a few slices of kiwi and the remaining strawberries, which you can either slice or leave whole, over the pancakes.

5.    Drizzle with the fruit coulis.

Blueberry pancakes with apple slices

• 1 cup of blueberries
• 1 apple sliced

1.    Add the blueberries to the pancake mixture and mix well

2.    Cook the pancake and blueberry mixture as normal

3.    Slice the apple and lie across the blueberry pancake.

4.    You could add maple to syrup at this point, or perhaps honey, but for a no sugar “pre-school” option, just leave it. The fruits add enough sweetness.

Refreshing citrus & mango pancakes

I remember becoming obsessed with grapefruit and orange slices while pregnant with Toby so this was a real blast from the past for me and I love the freshness!

• 1 Orange
• 1 Pink Grapefruit
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 5 mint leaves chopped finely
• 1 mango

1.    Peel the orange and the grapefruit, make sure you remove the white pith as this is what makes the fruit bitter. I opted to go for slightly smaller pink grapefruit as as they are sweeter. Cut into 8 and set aside in a bowl to allow the flavours to mix.

2.    Grate the lemon zest and add to the fruit

3.    Chop the mint and sprinkle over the fruit and zest.

4.    At this point you can either cover the fruit and leave it to absorb extra flavour over night or start up the pancakes.

5.    Slice the mango. I use a mango slicer as it’s easier but you can just slice the mango yourself.

6.    Place a few pieces of mango and a spoonful of citrus mixture over the pancakes.

7.    Et voila!