Day 45: Pancakes with Strawberries & Clotted Cream

inspired by Riding House Café

Hooray its a Bank Holiday! A day off work, no commute, no….

Oh wait hang on.

I have to admit after 7 weeks of no work a Bank Holiday doesn’t seem to be quite the treat it usually is.

The first May Bank Holiday weekend is really the start of summer in my mind. The beginning of barbecues, picnics, festivals, beer gardens, trips to the seaside, Wimbledon….

This summer is probably shaping up to be a bit different than usual. Sure we will be back having picnics soon. Fingers crossed sitting in a pub garden is not too far off. But without the music festivals, sporting events and the holidays a lot of our classic summer milestones will be missing, and very much missed, this year.

But one summer milestone has arrived. I can find British strawberries in the supermarkets again! Sure these early season fruit were probably grown undercover. But the fact we have strawberries in Britain again makes me smile.

So to celebrate the bank holiday weekend, and the start of British summertime what am I doing? I’m making American style pancakes.

Stay with me. Because these will not be topped with bacon or drowning in maple syrup. Oh no. These will be covered in British strawberries. And clotted cream!

The Riding House Café usually has pancakes with berries and clotted cream on their menu. Now I think about why would any place serving pancakes not have clotted cream with them? Makes total sense to me! Last year as a Wimbledon special they had one with strawberries and clotted cream!

For the pancakes I’m back to the recipe from Bigger, Bolder Baking that I used for my classic Buttermilk Pancakes.

Then simply top with strawberries and clotted cream. And a tiny bit of maple syrup. Couldn’t resist.

I also dust with a little icing sugar as that’s what Riding House Cafe do. Alternatively I guess you could sweeten the clotted cream or flavour it with vanilla. But there’s no need. It’s perfect just as it is.

Sure no one can argue that clotted cream is good for you. Not physically anyway. My jeans are getting tighter and tighter the longer I keep going on this blog.

But the amount of happiness a pot of clotted cream can bring to your day is unmeasurable. A total mood booster. So its worth the slightly tighter jeans (and the £4.50. Wow that’s a fair bit for cream!). Totally and utterly worth it.

Sat in the sunshine this morning eating these seems like the perfect way to welcome in summer. I’m even wearing flip flops.

Yes we might not have the summer we are used to. But with the beginning of an ease of lockdown in sight it’s time to look forward to what is ahead of us.

We may not have Wimbledon. But we can have strawberries. And lots of clotted cream.