Thinking about (and eating) food takes over a large portion of my brain – and free time. When I'm not working, you’ll find me curled up somewhere with a cookery book or flitting through Instagram to find the ‘next big thing’.

Looking at recipes and daydreaming about food is something I’ve done since I was little. I remember spending hours as a child rummaging through my mum’s rolodex of free recipe cards from Home and Freezer Digest, or poring over her copies of magazine-style cookery books from Australian Women’s Weekly – surely everyone in the 80s and 90s had the birthday cake edition?

Most recently I pulled my copy of Nigel Slater’s glorious Eating for England from the depths of my cookery book pile. I totally recommend this bible of British food and eating habits as an antidote to the lockdown/cold weather blues. Nigel, in his inimitable fashion, delights with descriptions and anecdotes of everything from Oxo cubes and Ribena, to midnight feasting and Jelly Babies. I can’t think of a better book to tuck into the stocking of a foodie.

Anyway, I digress. I spend a lot of time looking at food, and Instagram in particular has drawn me in like a moth to a flame. My most recent discovery has been pancake cereal. In essence, pancake batter cooked in tiny pieces to resemble little coins of cereal. ‘Who could be bothered to do that?’ I thought to myself. Well, clearly me, because I was straight on it the next day. It’s not something you’re going to rustle up of a weekday morning, but for a bit of whimsy and fun at the weekend these hit the spot. They definitely put a smile on my face. I’ve made mine with a recipe I have for Dutch pancakes – which I usually devour at Christmas markets at this time of year. Leave out the vanilla and sugar if you want to put savoury toppings over them.

Have fun.


Pancake cereal

(Makes 6-8 servings but you can freeze them or halve the batter)

Ingredients

240g self-raising flour, sieved

240ml milk

3 medium eggs

2tbsps caster sugar (optional)

1tsp vanilla (optional)

Oil for frying

To top: Whatever you fancy- edible flowers, seasonal fruit, honey, yoghurt, melted chocolate, hazelnut spread, peanut butter, bacon and maple syrup

You’ll need a good non-stick frying pan


Method

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour to a paste – this helps prevent lots of lumpy bits.

Gradually whisk in the milk to make a smooth batter. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Very lightly grease a non-stick frying pan and heat. Test a drop of the mixture – it should start to set almost immediately – that's when you know it’s ready.

To cook, simply drop half teaspoons of mixture in rounds across your pan, leaving about 1cm between them. When you start to see bubbles on the surface, flip them.

Decant into a bowl ready to eat. Two pans worth should be enough per person.

You can either cook these on the go for the family, one by one, or cook them and place on a tray in a low, warm oven so you can all eat together.

Top with whatever takes your fancy. I used the last of the edible flowers from my herb patch in the garden, berries, and warm Nutella. I’ve also made a savoury crumble before, frying off snippets of smoked bacon until crisp, adding some rolled oats to toast, and a dash of maple syrup.

Experiment. Have fun!