Pikelets: a tasty after-school snack

I've taken the traditional pikelet recipe and given it a little tweak - less sugar, more fibre, protein and calcium, and a bit of fruit for extra goodness!

I've always made a fairly traditional pikelet recipe - essentially a pancake recipe with less milk. Egg beaten with sugar, milk, flour and baking powder. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of sugar for each egg, and when I made pancakes (sometimes a triple batch to feed the family for Sunday breakfast) I kept thinking "that's a lot of sugar..."

Now I know I have talked about my love of apple puree in the past (in the Healthy Food Guide brownie post), but this is another great use for it. I have replaced a significant amount of the sugar with apple puree, enough to reduce the amount needed per egg to 2 tablespoons. Adding some rolled oats ups the fibre, and the Greek yoghurt and milk powder means extra protein and calcium - both really important for growing bodies. Add some delicious toppings, and you are good to go! I also tried a chocolate version* by adding a little cocoa powder, that went pretty well with a banana topping..

Thrive Pikelets

(makes 12-14)

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup apple puree

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

• 1/2 cup unsweetened Greek yoghurt

• 1/4 cup calcium-fortified trim milk

• 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 tablespoon skim milk powder

• 2 tablespoons sugar

Beat the egg with the apple puree and vanilla essence. Add the yoghurt and milk and mix. Stir in the rolled oats, then sift in the flour, baking powder, milk powder and sugar. Mix until combined. Heat a frypan on a medium heat, and use a little spray oil to grease. Cook dessertspoons full of mixture until bubble start to appear, then flip the pikelets to cook the other side. Place on a wire rack.

* Cook half the mixture, then sift in one heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder into the remaining mixture and stir, for a chocolatey second half!

I topped these pikelets with a half apple puree / half Greek yoghurt mixture, and sliced apple and banana, but use whatever fruit you like - there are loads of possibilities:

• blueberries, raspberries (fresh, or defrosted frozen)

• sliced fresh strawberries

• sliced kiwifruit

• small chunks of tinned or fresh pineapple

• mandarin segments

• fresh mango slices

• grape halves

• pear slices

A great snack to fill the kids with something nutritious until dinner, and the bonus of an extra serve of their 5+ a day.