Rum & Ginger Pancakes

 Something new and quite unusual :) Very tasty :) I think it is hard(impossible!) to prepare awful pancakes ;) This is my own recipe, but the idea comes from the book I've mentioned some time ago ('Biblioteczka Poradnika Domowego. Naleśniki, placki, omlety').

You can prepare either rum pancakes or ginger pancakes or rum and ginger pankes. 

Ingredients for the basic pancake dough:

• 500 ml of milk
• around 300 g of flour*
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 16 g (1 packaging) of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 glass of sugar (or less or a little more, depending on a personal taste)
• 1/2 or 1 flat teaspoon of baking powder

Additional ingredients:

• 1-4 teaspoons of rum (I used Golden Rum)**
• 1/3-1/2 teaspoon of grounded ginger***

* I don't measure flour - which is why it is 'around' 300g. The easiest way - put all the other ingredients in the bowl, mix and at the end start adding flour - the dough needs to be quite thick, it cannot be thin.

** and *** Be careful while adding rum and ginger as they're strong additionals. Add them step by step, tasting the dough every time, using a clean teaspoon everytime, though remember not to eat too much of the dough cause it causes stomachache.

Preparation:

1. Take a big bowl. Put all the ingredients inside, stir or mix till smooth.
2. Now you can add additional ingredients - whichever you wish and in a desired amount. If you want to have ginger and rum pancakes separately, you can make second basic dough in a different pot.
3. Take a big frying pan. Grease it with oil and start preheating on a low heat. After a few seconds, pour some dough on it and distribute the dough on the entire frying pan. Fry for around 30 seconds or more, on a low heat, till the dough congeals. Overturn when the colour is gold.
4. Decorate with a favourite additional ingredient - whipped cream, chocolate/caramel sauce, fruit, etc.
5. Bon Appetit! :)

Spicy Pineapple Smoothie

The idea for this smoothie seems to be more than obvious and not a real 'discovery'.
That's an outstanding taste, discovered totally accidentally, out of taste-boredom :) I won't dare to comment on the easiness of the preparation ;)

Worth trying!

Recipe is my own idea.

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 pineapple, peeled, chopped
• 1-2 pinches of ground: cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg

Optional ingredients:

• ice cubes
• 1-3 tablespoons of natural/greek yoghurt (I didn't add it)

Top decoration:

• whipped cream

Preparation:

1. Peel and chop the pineapple.
2. Take a blender with its cutting cube, add few pieces of pineapple, mix till smooth. Add another pieces, mix again - repeat till all the pineapple pieces are gone.
3. Add optional ingredients, mix.
4. Add spices, mix.
5. Pour to a latte glass. Decorate.
6. Bon Appetit! :)

British Crunches

This is a mouth-watering example of using the golden syrup :) Easy to prepare, quick to do, good for lunch and for coffee :)

Original recipe comes from this website, but I modified it a little bit.

Ingredients:

• 110 g butter 
• 120 g of sugar (preferably brown sugar) 
• 1 good tablespoon of golden syrup (you can use honey if you don't have it, but that will change the taste of crunches) 

Preparation:

1. Put all the ingredients in the pot, boil and stir till smooth. 
2. Take if off from the cooker. 

Ingredients:

• 150-200 g of rolled oats (not more than 225g) 
• 1-1,5 teaspoon(s) of ground ginger 
• some almond flakes 

1. Turn the oven on and set for 190 Celsius degrees, so that it has time to preheat 
2. Add the rolled oats and ginger to your pot. Stir. If you want some more rolled oats - add them. 
3. Prepare your baking form - if not made from silicone - put the baking paper in or grease it with butter 
4. Put the mixture in a baking form* and sprinkle the almond flakes on the top. 
5. If the oven is already heated to 190 Celsius degrees, put the form inside the oven and bake for 5-15 minutes** 
6. After baking, wait 10-20 minutes till it gets thicker, easier and generally possible to be divided into smaller parts. 
7. Bon appetit! :) 

* you can use any form you like - I do recommend flat (like for a tart) forms. You will get as thick/big cookies as your form is - if you will use tart form - cookies will be like mine - there will be a lot of them but they won't be thick. If you decide on a bread form - less cookies, but bigger(thicker).

** Look at them carefully. Very often the baking time depends on the oven. Sometimes, 6-7 minutes is perfectly enough.

How to check that ? Observe your crunch - if it is gold, you can take it out. Don't let the edges get burnt (golden dark) because these parts will be bitter and not really tasty. So if you see that it starts getting darker on the edges - take it out from the oven.