Pikelets With Berries

I haven't ever made pikelets but I've eaten them - long ago. This recipe, when I chanced upon it, evoked nostalgic memories of carefree 1950s Australian after-school afternoon teas at friends' houses, and of the mothers who'd made these pikelets for their 5-10 year olds and friends arriving home from school. Unlike the pikelets in this recipe, those pikelets were usually served with jam and cream. Some were even just buttered. This pikelet recipe is adapted from a recipe card - in a 'Pan or Wok' series of recipes from International Masters Publishers Ltd..

• Ready In: 13 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 125  g self-raising flour
• 25  g unsalted butter
• 1  large egg
• 125  ml low-fat milk
• 15  g caster sugar
• 1  tablespoon  sunflower oil
• 2  tablespoons  orange juice
• 1  teaspoon arrowroot
• 350  g mixed berries, dried and hulled (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, washed)
• 25  g demerara sugar
• 300  ml  double cream, low-fat is fine, to serve

Directions

1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the butter and rub into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and the milk, then add the egg-milk mixture to the flour-butter-breadcrumb mixture.
3. Then stir in the caster sugar and mix all the ingredients until you have a smooth batter.
4. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and drop in spoonfuls of the batter, spacing them well apart.
5. Cook the pikelets until the surface starts to bubble, then flip them over with a spatula or egg-slide and cook the other side, for about 2 minutes.
6. Remove the pikelets, transfer them to a plate and keep them warm. The batter should make about 8 pikelets in total.
7. Once all the pikelets have been made, wipe the pan.
8. Mix together the orange juice and arrowroot.
9. Heat the orange juice and demerara sugar in the pan, stir in the orange juice mixture, add the berries and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
10. Whip the cream into soft peaks, divide the pikelets between 4 serving plates, top with spoonfuls of whipped cream and fruit and serve.