Buckwheat pancakes with salted caramel sauce

1. Begin by making the caramel sauce. Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and swirl to coat all of the sugar in the water. Place the saucepan over a medium heat and simmer until the sugar turns a light chestnut brown colour do not stir during this time as the sugar will stick to the side of the saucepan and crystallise. Add the butter or coconut oil and now you can stir it until the butter (or coconut oil) is melted and incorporated into the sugar. Now carefully add the cream. Be careful with this step as the sauce will bubble violently, so add the cream slowly. Stir well and allow the mixture to bubble and boil for a further minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the flaked sea salt.
2. To make the pancakes place the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, bicarb and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Next place the milk, vanilla extract and egg in a jug and whisk until the egg is incorporated. Add the wet mixture to the dry and whisk until well combined.
3. Place a medium non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Lightly oil the pan, I like to do this with a little paper towel dipped in oil which I run over the pan. Add about 1/4 cup of the mixture to the pan and cook until the surface bubbles, and the edge of the pancake transforms from glossy to matte. Flip and cook for a further minute until golden. Remove from the pan and place on a plate to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
4. To serve top the pancakes with banana slices, walnuts and a drizzle of salted caramel sauce, and ice cream or cream, if you like.

Did I have you at salted caramel? Are you a pancakes fan?

Jennifer Schmidt is a freelance food photographer and stylist and the author of Delicious Everyday, Australia’s most popular vegetarian food blog. She believes life is too short to eat food that you don’t enjoy and loves creating recipes that celebrate good simple whole food and making the most of the amazingly abundant fresh produce we have available here in Australia.