This is actually one of my favourite pancake combos surprisingly, given that I mainly use fruit in/on my pancakes.  I love to order pancakes with a side of bacon and a sea of maple syrup poured over when I’m out for breakfast and the first time I had them I couldn’t believe how good the combo was, just like salty/sweet candy.  The bacon must be crispy though!  Very important – I don’t eat a lot of bacon but I am picky about how it’s cooked.

And these are proper thick pancakes!  If you prefer them a bit thinner or want to stretch out the mixture to 8 pancakes, add a bit more buttermilk and use a smaller measuring cup while cooking them.

And can I just say how fantastic streaky crispy bacon is?  Normally I buy the low fat one which is a poor second really.  And I was so impressed by the bacon sizzling in the oven Ant made a video

Bacon from Emma Cooke on Vimeo.

Recipe for maple syrup buttermilk pancakes with bacon:

200g streaky bacon rashers
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tspn mixed spice
3 tspns baking powder
A couple of grinds of sea salt
3 x 20ml tblspns pure maple syrup or raw caster sugar
60mls (1/4 cup) grapeseed (or other neutral) oil
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tspn maple or vanilla extract
Butter or oil, to cook

Butter & heaps of maple syrup, to serve

Cook bacon however you usually do – I cook mine on a flat baking pan lined with baking paper in a preheated 180C oven for 10 minutes, turn over and bake for another 10 minutes until crispy.  We left ours in the oven with it turned off while the last of the pancakes were cooking.

Meanwhile, add flour, spice, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk.  Add maple syrup, oil, buttermilk, eggs and extract to a 500ml jug and whisk until combined and creamy (this is a stiff batter which makes very thick pancakes, so add a 1/4 cup more buttermilk if you prefer a thinner pancake).  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and fold through until just combined; don’t over-beat.  Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes while preheating the pan.

Add a decent pat of butter or a small splash of oil to a large non-stick frypan or griddle and heat to high heat, brushing the butter evenly around the pan.  Add 1/3 metric cups of mixture to pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until you can see a few bubbles in the top of the pancake and the underside is browned, then use an egg flip to flip over and cook the other side for 2 minutes or so until cooked right through.  Reduce heat a bit as you go as the pan heats up a lot.  Place pancakes on a plate stacked on top of each other while you continue with the rest of the batch (or serve as you go if you prefer).

Serve straight away with the crispy bacon, extra butter and maple syrup.

Makes: 10 pancakes