The beginning of the year marked a new phase in my life – two at school, one at kinder and for the first time in seven years, time all by myself. Alone. After drop-off each Wednesday, my thoughts and I would get some quality time together, usually in a local cafe over a cup of coffee made by someone else while no one tugged at my sleeve. Or insisted on putting the sugar in my coffee for me, then watching it sink, then lifting the glass to see it at the bottom of my latte.

Good times. For a while, anyway. Then the bad habit would kick in…

Clock watching.

I found I quickly became obsessed with how long I had left until pick-up. Four hours. Three hours. One hour and twenty minutes. Or, from the moment I realised what I actually wanted to write with this recipe, seventeen minutes. There’s rarely a moment in the day when I can’t tell you how much longer I have until it’s off to pick up I go. Crazy, especially as I don’t wear a watch. *insert spooky sci-fi music here for my amazing talent*

I like being on top of things but must admit that the constant thoughts of how much time alone I have left is really ruining the time that I have for me. I get stressed about being able to fit all the jobs in, peaking in that last hour before pick-up when I realise how much I didn’t get done on my to-do list for the week. Like the ones I just noticed for today, oops.

One thing I find I can always squeeze in, though, is baking a quick after-school treat for the little ones. And today’s recipe is one of my favourites because it’s quick to make and yummy – teeny, tiny pikelets. Just the thing to make on a day when I’ve realised I only have a little bit of time left before pick-up.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
butter for cooking

Method

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle

Add the eggs and whisk to combine

Slowly add the milk, whisking the whole time, to make a smooth batter

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and grease with butter

Add batter – one tablespoon of batter for each pikelet – and cook until bubbles appear on the surface and they’re a golden brown underneath

Flip over and cook until golden on the other side

Serve with butter and your favourite topping, eg. jam, honey, almond butter, nutella…

Makes 30. Any leftovers can be kept in an airtight container for a couple days and used in lunchboxes.

Happy baking!