Candied Bacon and Buttermilk Pancakes with Sweet Blueberries and Canadian Maple Syrup
Ingredients
For the pancakes:
- 110g plain flour
- 20g caster sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 300ml buttermilk
- 2 large free range eggs, whites and yolks separated
- 25g unsalted butter, melted
- Vegetable oil, for frying
For the blueberries:
- 50ml water
- 50g caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
- 150g blueberries
For the bacon:
- 14 rashers British dry cured streaky bacon, air dried and unsmoked, finely chopped
- 50g caster sugar
- 50ml Canadian maple syrup
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Method
To make the pancakes:
Put the flour, sugar and baking powder in a mixing bowl and mix together. In another bowl add the buttermilk, egg yolks and melted butter and mix together. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix together to a smooth consistency. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold them gently into the flour and buttermilk mixture, trying to keep as much air in the egg whites as possible. Heat a frying pan on a medium to high heat, add a little vegetable oil then ladle in one pancake at a time to a diameter of around 10cm; this will give you enough mixture for 12 pancakes. When the pancake starts to bubble, flip it over and brown on the other side. Once cooked place on a wire rack and repeat the process to cook all pancakes.
To cook the blueberries:
In a saucepan add the water, sugar and vanilla essence and bring to the boil. Once boiled remove from the heat. Add the blueberries to the sweet syrup and leave to one side.
To cook the bacon:
Turn on the grill to a medium to high heat. On a baking tray, lay out the streaky bacon then place under the grill until it starts to lightly brown; remove the tray from the grill and flip the bacon over. Return to the grill and lightly brown this side of the rasher. Once brown, remove from the grill and lightly sprinkle with half of the caster sugar, then return to the grill until the sugar has melted and caramelised in a golden brown colour. Once caramelised, remove from the grill again and flip the bacon, sprinkle the remaining sugar lightly over the rashers and return to the grill. Once caramelised, remove from the grill and set to one side (be careful as this will be very hot).
To serve:
Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius, place the pancakes on a baking tray and put in the oven for 3 minutes to warm before stacking 3 pancakes on a plate. Top with candied bacon rashers and then spoon on some of the sweet blueberries. Finally, drizzle some of the Canadian maple syrup, season and serve.