South African Flapjacks pancakes

This South African Flapjacks pancakes recipe is for easy to make delicious, light and airy mini pancakes that can be served as a sweet treat or dessert topped with whipped cream, jam or fruit curd.

These mini flapjacks are very different to the British granola type of oat based flapjack bars, that are similar to Crunchies Oat and Coconut cookies that were left out to soften.

Breakfast flapjacks are similar to American buttermilk pancakes, hotcakes or griddle cakes usually served for breakfast, although more delicate in texture. Strangely enough, even though it is the perfect pancake recipe my mother never made these for us as breakfast pancakes.

When I was little, I was the official ‘barakat’ deliverer during Ramadhan, and went every night to our neighbours with a gift of sweet or savoury snacks before iftar.

The first iftar snack that my mother allowed me to make myself was her fluffy Flapjack pancakes recipe. It was the easiest recipe she could teach me while preparing the evening meal and keeping one eye on me.

My mother loved to make her recipe for Flapjacks, and although we mostly served it during Ramadhan, there were occasions when she would make it for unexpected guests as a quick afternoon tea recipe. Even as a teen and adult it was always a very quick recipe that we could whip up whenever we had nothing special to serve with tea.

How to make flapjacks pancakes

• This  recipe for Flapjack pancakes is very versatile and can be eaten as sweet with flapjack toppings of caramel and banana or strawberry jam, berries and whipped fresh cream.
• For savory flapjacks we served it with butter and grated cheese.
• The eggs and sugar are whisked together until pale and creamy then added in two batches to the dry ingredients with the milk, melted butter and buttermilk.
• The flapjacks pancakes are cooked on medium high  and the most important visual indicator that they are ready to flip are the tens of tiny bubbles that pop up on the surface.
• When serving with jam and cream the flapjacks pancakes do not require a smear of butter before the toppings are added. I do like to add butter though when having it with cheese.

You can also find more pancake recipes below:

• Cape Malay Pancakes with berries
• Almond and Coconut breakfast pancakes
• Cape Malay Banana pancakes
• Sweet corn and polenta fritters

South African Flapjacks

South African Flapjacks are very versatile pancakes and can be eaten sweet (with whipped cream, preserves or fruit curd) or savory (with butter and cheese).

5 from 23 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Servings: 10

Calories: 222kcal

Author: Razena Schroeder

Ingredients

Flapjack batter

• 140 grams cake or fine sponge flour (approximately 250 ml or 1 cup)
• 7 grams baking powder (approximately 7.5 ml or 1 1/2 level teaspoons)
• 1.25 ml salt (approximately 1/4 teaspoon)
• 13 grams fine granulated sugar (approximately 15 ml or 3 teaspoons)
• 1 extra large egg
• 125 ml buttermilk (approximately 1/2 cup)
• 60 ml milk (approximately 1/4 cup)
• 30 grams butter (melted (approximately 35 ml or 7 teaspoons melted butter))

Decoration

• 250 ml fresh whipping cream
• 125 ml fruit jam or lemon curd
• 200 grams Fresh raspberries or strawberries

Instructions

• Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl.
• In another bowl, whisk together the egg and sugar until pale and thick.
• Gradually add the buttermilk and milk and whisk until combined.
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add half the egg mixture.
• Next whisk in the cooled melted butter.
• Stir to combine adding the remainder of the egg mixture until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps.
• Heat a heavy bottom frying non-stick pan or crepe pan to medium hot and drop tablespoon fulls of the batter to make circles approximately 5m in diameter. I used a 20ml ice cream scoop to measure.
• When the bubbles form on the top it is ready to turn. Do not flip over until the bubbles appear as it will not be fully cooked.
• Allow the flapjacks to cool then pipe rosettes of fresh cream and fill the indentation with jam or lemon curd.
• Decorate with fresh berries.

Nutrition

Serving: 30g | Calories: 222kcal (11%) | Carbohydrates: 23g (8%) | Protein: 3g (6%) | Fat: 13g (20%) | Saturated Fat: 7g (44%) | Cholesterol: 59mg (20%) | Sodium: 106mg (5%) | Potassium: 174mg (5%) | Sugar: 9g (10%) | Vitamin A: 495IU (10%) | Vitamin C: 13mg (16%) | Calcium: 78mg (8%) | Iron: 0.4mg (2%)

Nutritional information for the recipe is an approximation and varies according to the ingredients and products used.

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This recipe was originally refined and published for my guest post on the Gheza e Shiriin website, for their annual global Ramadhan round-up in 2016 called Ramadan – An Event to Share 2016