Soufflé Pancakes with Almonds and Apricots

Is there anything better than a good pancake I hear you ask? Well yes there is. These are pancakes made with whipped egg whites and baked in the oven so they puff up and go all fluffy like a soufflé. They will sink pretty quickly after coming out of the oven so it’s best to eat them as soon as they come out, but unlike normal soufflés they’ll stay light as clouds even after they’ve sunk, so even if you wait a bit before eating them they’ll taste insane!

I don’t use apricots that much in my cooking as they’re a bit too sharp when eaten raw, and a bit too sweet when dried. This one works with a combo of fresh apricots and apricot jam to give a perfect balance of sweet and sharp to go with the fluffy pancakes, almost like lemon juice and sugar on classic crepes. If apricots aren’t in season you can always work with plums, peaches, strawberries or raspberries instead.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 30g Unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 3 Large eggs
• 50ml Whole milk
• 60g Caster sugar
• 200ml Double cream
• A few drops of Almond essence
• 35g Plain flour
• 200g Apricot jam
• 2 Fresh apricots
• A sprinkle of Flaked almonds to garnish
• Vanilla ice cream to serve

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Grease 4 bilini moulds with butter and leave them in the oven to warm up.
3. Now make the batter. Take a pan and melt 20g of the butter over a medium heat.
4. Separate two of the eggs. Put the two egg yolks in a bowl with the other whole egg. Add the melted butter, milk, half the sugar, cream, almond essence, and the flour. Then whisk until smooth.
5. In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Then add the rest of the sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture become stiff enough to hold it’s shape.
6. Fold the egg whites into the batter and mix until fully combined.
7. Pour the mixture into the bilini moulds and put them back in the oven to bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and risen.
8. Meanwhile prep the toppings. Put the rest of the butter (30g) into a small pan and leave to melt. In another pan gently warm the apricot jam until it begins to loosen and becomes runny. Then de-stone the apricots and cut them into thin slices.
9. When the pancakes are ready work quickly. Using a palette knife take them out of the moulds. Brush the pancakes with butter and pour a little of the apricot jam over them. Repeat with the rest of the pancakes, stacking them up or sharing them out as you do. Top with the apricot slices and serve with vanilla ice cream!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x