Blood Orange and Chocolate pancakes

It is always fun to cook with the family and it is even better on Valentine’s Day when we can celebrate all kinds of love, I often find myself entertaining and cooking for friends too. It gives me so much joy to feed everyone, trying new dishes, recipes and some family favourites As they say, “there is no sincerer love than the love of food”.

I love to get into the kitchen, put some music on and get creative. Having my favourite music on makes everything more fun and inspires me to try new things. Sainsbury’s recently launched their #Fooddancing campaign, which tapped into the joy we all get from having a dance in the kitchen whilst we cook our favourite foods – it’s definitely resonated with a lot of people and I must admit I have been known to have a boogie myself!

One of my family’s favourite breakfasts is pancakes. It is kind of a tradition, which has been going on for a few years now. Now my children are older they even help me make them and we take turns to flip the pancakes over.

I am teaming up with Sainsbury’s to bring you these very refreshing citrusy pancakes. It’s the perfect way to show someone you care around Valentine’s Day, or any day in fact! I have taken inspiration from Sarah Randall’s recipe from the Sainsbury’s website and made it my own so if you’d like to have a go at creating your own #fooddancing recipe they can be found here.

The vibrancy of Blood oranges are perfect for Valentine’s Day. They are one of my favourite fruits and they are in season right now meaning they are at their best. . These thin style crepes can be put together in minutes and they are light and sandwiched with a delicious thin layer of chocolate hazelnut spread and finished with a beautiful blood orange syrup that will definitely impress your nearest and dearest.

For the panckes –

100 gms self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

250 ml whole milk

2 tbsp of melted unsalted butter

 

For the syrup –

1 tbsp unsalted butter

Juice of 3 blood oranges

Thinly sliced zest of 1 blood orange

3 tbsp soft brown sugar

 

3-4 tsp unsalted butter to cook

Chocolate hazelnut spread to serve

Start with the syrup by melting the butter in a pan. To this add the orange juice, zest and sugar. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 7-8 minutes.

While the syrup is simmering prepare the batter for the pancakes. In a bowl sift the flour, add the salt and mix well. In another bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar, milk and melted butter. Slowly add this mix into the flour and whisk it well until you have a smooth batter.

Heat a pan and add a small piece of butter to it. Once it is hot and the butter has melted add a ladleful of the batter and swirl it around the pan to make it really thin. Cook for 2 minutes before flipping it over. Cook for another minute until done. This batter should make 10-12 pancakes. As the pancakes are getting cooked, layer them between sheets of baking paper.

Place the pancake on a plate and put a spoonful of the chocolate hazelnut spread on one side and then fold the pancake into quarters. Place 2 folded pancakes on each plate and drizzle the warm syrup on top before serving.