Pikelets

By: Margaret Fulton
From: Margaret Fulton Favourites
Makes: 12-15
Photographer: Tanya Zouev and Armelle Habib

When fellow Scot Sue Lawrence came to Australia to launch her prize-winning book Scots Cooking, she shocked the manager of a cooking school by requesting a girdle. She didn’t mean something you buy in a lingerie shop — she meant a Scottish girdle for making potato scones and drop scones, which are also known as Scotch pancakes or, here in Australia, pikelets. ‘Margaret Fulton is bound to have one,’ she told the manager, and was right. I had helped design one for a well-known saucepan company and I endorsed it with my name on the base. Sue thought it was the best girdle she’d ever used.

As Sue says, ‘This is fast food as it was meant to be. From mixing the ingredients to eating, these pikelets take just 10 minutes.’

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1 cup	self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon	salt
2 tablespoons	sugar
1	egg, beaten
1 cup	milk or buttermilk
30g	butter, melted
a little	extra butter, for cooking

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Mix together the egg, milk and butter. Pour the egg mixture into the well and, using a wooden spoon, gradually draw in the flour until you have a smooth batter.
Heat a little butter in a girdle or a large heavy-based frying pan. Test the mixture by dropping 1 tablespoon into the pan. If it doesn’t drop easily the mixture may need more milk. Drop the batter by the tablespoon into the pan and cook pikelets over a medium heat until the bottoms are golden and the tops covered with bubbles. This should take just 11⁄2–2 minutes. Turn carefully and cook the other side. Remove and keep warm in a folded tea towel while you cook the rest of the batter, adding more butter to the pan if necessary. Serve warm with butter and honey or a good berry jam and a spoonful of whipped cream.