I'd never actually made them before, but my Mom used to make these for us, especially so that we'd have something to snack on during the day while she was at work. All they needed was a bit of butter and some apricot jam. They bring back such fond memories and are seriously yummy.
My family looked very different then: two relatively small girls with small appetites - so we'd always have lots of leftovers vs a family of five, including three eternally hungry teenagers and a Dad with a Man-Sized love for all things sweet! Oh and of course, there's me. Lol, which = no leftovers! And actually @matthew-williams wasn't even with us so it was just four of us.
So, since it was school holidays and I've been promising the kids I'd make them since the holidays started, I got the recipe out of my Mom, although I had to tweak it a bit. I used another popular South African recipe site for reference as well.
This recipe makes roughly 32 Flap Jacks/ Crumpets.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Flap Jacks or Crumpets, they are vaguely similar to American pancakes, because of their thickness. Also, South African pancakes are thin like crêpes. Flap Jacks/ Crumpets are small though and you should be able to fit about three or four in your average pan.
My Mom always used to use a skillet, but any ordinary pan will do. The batter must be made in advance and left to chill in the fridge for at least two hours, so I did that yesterday morning and served them in the afternoon. We all ate so may that we were all passed out by 6pm 🤣😍
Tools for phase one - The mixture
A large plastic bowl for mixing
An electric hand mixer
A teaspoon
A fork
A measuring cup
2 ordinary bowls
A butter knife
**Ingredients for phase 1 - The Mixture
**
2/3 eggs (I used 4 because our eggs were unusually tiny)
2 cups of cake flour
x2.5 cups of milk
A pinch of salt
Vanilla essence (at your discretion - let your ancestors guide you😜)
3 teaspoons of baking powder
3 Table spoons of melted butter
Method:
Melt the butter in one bowl in the microwave and crack and beat the eggs in a separate bowl.
Sieve your flour and baking powder into the bowl and basically just add everything else.
Mix until the consistency is smooth. Don't overmix though. It should be quite a thick mixture, but still pourable. If you think your mixture is too runny: add more flour, if it's to thick: add more milk. Just remember, if you add more flour, to adjust your baking powder, since this recipe calls for ordinary cake flour and not self raising flour.
Once you're satisfied, place the bowl into the fridge and leave it alone for at least two hours.
Tools for phase two - the frying
1 x thick based preferably non-stick pan
1 x large serving spoon
1 x knife for slicing off thin bits of butter for frying
1 x Large baking tray that can be kept in the warming drawer or at the top of the oven to retain heat.
Baking paper
Method for phase two - the frying
As always, the first few will normally be duds. This happens as you adjust the amount of batter you need, the ideal temperature of your stove etc. Also, I tried spray and cook for frying, as per the other website's instructions, but it didn't work at all. Hence the move to butter.
Set your stove to medium High heat. Add about two teaspoons worth of butter. Once that's sizzling, you're ready to go!
Spoon in the mixture slowly and carefully, and quite thickly, leaving space for each flapjack/ crumpet to expand without touching the other ones.
Depending on your desired flapjack/ crumpet size and the size of your pan, you can cook 3/4 per batch.
You'll know when it's tie to flip them when bubbles appear on the surface.
Each batch takes around 5 minutes, from spooning in the mixture, to frying, to placing in the warmer.
Serving Ideas:
Butter (this will melt delightfully and decadently if your flap jack is still hot enough)
Apricot jam
Cinnamon sugar
Maple Syrup
You can also use cream, berries, chocolate sauce - the options are endless!!!
🥞🥞🥞🥘🥘🥘🥞🥞🥞🥘🥘🥘🥞🥞🥞🥘🥘🥘
