Chocolate Pancakes with Blackcurrant & Rose Compote - Random Recipes #25

I love Random Recipes and think Dom of Belleau Kitchen is a genius for coming up with the idea. I've been in from the beginning, so it always grieves me when I run out of time and don't manage to make the challenge. Last month was such a one and I was beginning to panic that this month would turn out the same, but no, I was determined not to miss another month. Dom gave us quite a bit of freedom with this challenge and allowed us to pick our own book, a highly unusual event. I went for my Valentine's gift from CT (itself a highly unusual occurrence); a chocolate book I have long been lusting after, Chococo chocolate cookbook by Claire Burnet. I closed my eyes and opened the book on a random page, somewhat trepedaciously - you just never quite know what you might be letting yourself in for. Sigh of relief, which then turned to one of excitment: chocolate pancakes platter. I have long wanted to make chocolate pancakes, but somehow have never actually managed it. Fortuitously, I also had a tub of blackcurrants which were in desperate need of using up. My mother's freezer, not so fortuitously and very upsettingly, packed up unexpectedly. She ended up having to throw most of the food away. By the time we received the currants, they had been out of the freezer some time. So instead of making the cherry compote denoted in the recipe, I made blackcurrant and rose compote instead.

This is how I made:

Chocolate Pancakes with Rose, Mint and Blackcurrant Compote

• Sieved 150g wholemeal flour into a bowl with a scant tsp of baking powder and 30g cocoa powder.
• Stirred in 2 tbsp vanilla (caster) sugar.
• Made a well in the centre and broke in an egg.
• Started to mix from the middle outwards, adding 175 ml milk a little at a time.
• Beat in 20g hazelnut oil (instead of melted butter).
• Left to rest for about 20 minutes whilst I got on with the other things.

• Dry fried a large tbsp of flaked almonds with 1/2 a tsp of icing powder until they were lightly browned and slightly caramelised.
• Turned into a little serving dish.

• Poured the blackcurrants into a pan.
• Didn't add any sugar as this had already been done.
• Added the last of my rose syrup (about 2 tbsp) which also really needed using up.
• Simmered for a few minutes, then added 2 tbsp mint vodka.
• Simmered for another couple of minutes.

• Heated a frying pan over a medium heat and added a slither of butter.
• Placed a heaped tbsp of pancake mixture into the pan, spreading it out with the spoon to form a circle of about 10 cm.
• Left for a few minutes until bubbles started to appear in the pancake.
• Turned it over and cooked for a couple more minutes.
• Placed on a plate and put into a warm oven.
• Repeated the process making six pancakes in total.

• Assembled the pancakes by layering them with a tbsp of blackcurrant compote and then another pancake.
• Stacked them three pancakes high finishing with a layer of blackcurrants.
• Topped with the almonds and dusted with a little icing sugar.

I decided at the last minute to experiment with using hazelnut oil rather than the stated melted butter. It was a completely pointless exercise as the hazelnut flavour could not be detected above the blackcurrants. The pancakes were, however, delicious and the blackcurrants complemented them perfectly. The pancake stacks were enormous and I struggled to finish mine. The mixture could have easily made 12 smaller pancakes for four people and these would in fact have made a much better portion size. But we are not known for our restraint in such matters and felt we deserved it, having spent the day hacking back down at the plot.

Random Recipes - the choice is yours. My choice was Chococo.

Kate of Turquoise Lemons has given us Preserves for her monthly No Food Waste Challenge. Blackcurrants preserved from the summer, mint vodka and rose syrup I made back along in need of using up,

Teatime Treats hosted alternately by What Kate Baked and Lavender and Lovage is puddings this month - well I can tell you these chocolate pancakes makes a very nice pudding indeed.

The freezer disaster also makes these pancakes eligible for Credit Crunch Munch I reckon along with the homemade rose syrup and mint vodka. A monthly challenge hosted by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours.

As these are American style pancakes, I'm entering them into Bloggers Around the World hosted by Chris of Cooking Around the World. The country of choice this month is USA.