Conversations with RJ…
J: Do you want a cookie-cake thing for the car?
R: YES PLEASE. What’s in them?… Cranberries?
J: Yep, but I could have added any dried fruit really, the original recipe calls for currants.
R: Oh, currants would be nice.
J: You don’t even know what a current is.
R: Yes I do, it’s like a raisin, but on a salad.
J: Oh you’ve just written the start of my post. Also, bwahahaha.
Have you ever visited a blog and thought you yourself, “I recognise the name and know I’ve been here before but why on earth haven’t I been here more often?” Well that’s exactly what happened when I landed on Lavender and Lovage, my assigned blog for this month’s Secret Recipe Club.
Karen is a freelance writer and recipe developer and is currently working on a cookbook with the aim of reclaiming the near-forgotten British feasts, festivals and traditions she’s discovered through her research. Oh, and she splits her time between her home in the UK and the South West of France — doesn’t that sound just lovely!
In any case, to say I got lost in her recipe archives would be an understatement and somewhere between gorgeous looking roasted eggplant and sweet peppers, and more-ish walnut rolls I landed on her Welsh griddle cakes and a fresh gazpacho soup.
The peppers and rolls were marked for later due to an aversion to turning on the oven in the middle of 90+ degree heat — it is summer in Sydney after all — and as all the veggies are currently going into rainbow salads the gazpacho would have to wait… Griddle cakes it would be.
They were subject to my usual substitutions — spelt, coconut oil, unrefined sugar — and got a bit fancy for the holiday season with some dried cranberries, but the basic method is pretty much unchanged.
So what is a griddle cake? Well it’s somewhere between a scone and a cookie, cooked on a griddle like a pancake instead of in an oven. The spelt and oil made them just crumbly enough, and they are as perfect for breakfast as they are for morning or afternoon tea.
RJ was going to put scrambled eggs on his (think cinnamon-raisin-bagel-egg-sandwich-esque) but that was before he sat on the lounge and ate two without a sound. I took the “serve with butter” suggestion as an opportunity to make a vat of Vegan Butter because one can always use more butter.
Needless to say everybody wins, especially if you make these for tea. Don’t worry, I’ll bring the butter.
Cranberry Maple Griddle Cakes
Somewhere between a scone, a pancake and a cookie these morning tea treats are cooked on a griddle and perfect with a cup of tea. With spelt, maple, cranberry and coconut oil this is my twist on an old Welsh recipe, adapted from Lavender and Lovage.
Makes 8
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ¼ c whole spelt flour, plus extra for cutting
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp flakey sea salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 c coconut oil (80g), solid
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ c dried cranberries (75g)
- 1 egg
METHOD
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. Add coconut oil and cut through with a pastry blender or rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through cranberries. Whisk egg and syrup together and stir into flour mixture to create a fairly stiff dough.
Preheat a heavy-based skillet or electric griddle to medium. Liberally dust a sheet of baking paper with extra flour and turn out dough.
Use floured fingers to gently pat dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut rounds with a floured cutter or drinking glass, patting any scraps together and cut again — you should get about 8 cakes plus a cook’s treat or two.
Grease hot skillet with a bit of extra coconut oil and cook cakes for 3 minutes on each side. Serve warm or at room temperature with butter or vegan butter and a cup of tea.
COOK’S NOTES
- If the dough is too soft to move to the griddle after cutting, slide paper onto a tray and refrigerate for a few mins — the coconut oil will firm up again as it cools and make the rounds easier to move. Probably not necessary in winter, decidedly required in the middle of summer, ahem.
- If your coconut oil is melted measure it out into a dish and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until firm but not solid. If coconut oil is too solid to work this method can help.
vegetarian // whole-grain // diary-free // refined sugar-free // soy-free // nut-free
What a wonderful selection this month! I’ve never made griddle cakes, and need to make up for that oversight with this recipe! Pinning right now 🙂
Lots of interesting adaptations. Simply beautiful photos.
THANKS so much for your kind words and for making my Griddle Cakes look to spectacular! LOVE the combo of ingredients……and such lovely images too, Karen
Oh these look delicious. Perfect to make on a hot summers day when you don’t want to turn the oven on. I will be making these this week when I find a few free minutes. Yum
Those look so LOVELY!! Gorgeous photos, and what a great breakfast / snack / treat! 🙂
Yes! I’ll take a big pile of these, please!
I’ve never heard of a griddle cake! How interesting. Great pick this month – these would be perfect to have on hand during the busy holiday season.
Yum! The ladies at the church I went to as a kid used to make something similar for various events and I used to love them! Now I totally want to make them! Thanks for the trip down memory lane! 🙂
Such beautiful photos! These look absolutely delicious and perfect for autumn. Great pick!
I don’t think I’ve ever had a griddle cake, but these look really, really good! And your photos are BEAUTIFUL!!
I have never heard of a griddle cake! What a fantastic concept of such a treat. I love how yours came out – they look delicious!!! 🙂
These sound so interesting and so delicious! I could see myself enjoying one (or more) of these in the morning with a cup of tea before rushing out the door. Great pick this month!
I have never made griddle cakes but these sure make me want to change that.
Love those pictures – especially the tea set – how pretty 🙂 Happy reveal day!
Like a raisin but on a salad!!! Bahahaaa! Ah, that sounds like something that Aaron would say. It always amazes me how much food terminology he is yet to absorb (despite living with a food nerd). As for these griddle cakes? Gorgeous! I’ve followed Lavender and Lovage for quite a while now and Karen never ceases to enthrall me with her beautiful English country cooking. Love this JJ xxx
THANKS so much Laura! XX
Sounds like a wonderful breakfast for Thanksgiving morning!! Tea and all.
Ooh I think Mr Ollie would like these. He’s big on fruit toast at the moment!
How lucky getting Lavendar & Lovage for your assignment – I love Karen’s blog. I have never tried griddle cakes, but now I really, really want them – I see a batch coming up Sunday morning.