Yesterday, much to the bemusement of the bees, I swapped their last little honey super (box) for a bigger brood super to expand into for the winter. The theory is that if they come out of winter into spring with a bigger house they will not swarm. Then I scarpered back to the kitchen with the last frames of honey for ME!
It is a very sticky business.
Last night I discovered a fantastic use for honey. I opened a new bottle of pinot grigio, from a vineyard I had not sampled before. And it was quite dreadful. (Katherine I almost spat!) I KNEW I should not have broken my rule about never buying wine with an animal on the label. So as I was decanting honey at the time, I simply poured a gooey drop of fresh honey straight from the jug into my glass, stirred and VOILA, it was drinkable. And healthy! A fantastic discovery! Naturally the honey bottling went much better after that.
Another fantastic recipe for honey – Lemon Verbena Honey. From the wonderful Food In Jars. This will be lovely to have with our sourdough pikelets. I do not have any lemon verbena so I have substituted lemon balm and we will see what happens. Lemon balm makes a great tea and grows like a weed out here. 
Sourdough Pikelets
- Beat 1 egg and 3/4 cup of sugar until smooth
- Add 2 cups warm activated starter (Proof your starter, then feed again and sit for at least an hour so you get maximum volume in your pikelets).
- As you stir keep adding sifted flour (about 3/4 cup) until you reach a thick mixture.
Cook biscuit sized dollops in a very lightly greased pan on low heat. Flip when the bubbles begin to pop. Now, here is a tip, if these come out rubbery and chewy, this is because your starter was not active enough. So call them prospectors pancakes. Next time you can stir in a teaspoon baking soda to the mixture just before you cook.
For those of you who do not have a sourdough starter here is the regular pikelet recipe.
Mama’s Pikelets
- 1 egg and 3/4 cup sugar BEAT together, add 3/4 cup milk and beat again.
- In another bowl add 1 cup flour, pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
Make a well in the flour and pour in most of the milky mix, stir the well until the flour is incorporated, add the last of the milk if you need to. You do not want these to spread like flapjacks, so err on the side of thick. If that makes any sense. (If you do want flapjacks, add a little more milk. )
Pour or spoon mixture onto a hot lightly greased griddle turned low. When bubbles appear flip over. Pile inside a folded tea towel as you finish and serve warm with butter and jam or whipped cream and jam or HONEY!
Many people have been asking where I bought my starter from. Here is the site.
Have fun
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
61 responses to “lemon verbena honey with mama’s pikelets”
I love that you’re making pikelets on the prairies in America – go you good thing! 🙂
Your honey looks wonderful, I’m a little honey-obsessed at the moment. Do you get it out without heating?
Yes, Celia, I avoid heating, though I do heat the knife, to take off the caps, the bees get a lot back which is ok. c
Those look wonderful… I made some last week with my surplus starter, but they didn’t brown nearly as pretty as those…Nor did I have FRESH HONEY to put on them…Nice
God Bless You
paul
That starter is great isn’t it paul.. c
I thought you might be interested in this blog article from an “Etsy” blogger, too Cecilia…about the “Bee’s” http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/enjoy-eating-thank-a-beekeeper/
Thank you, i will go and have a look, that was really kind! thank you c
Your photos are fabulous! I love Mama’s Pikelets stacked with the towel! I’ve never heard of that before and have to give it a try!! I’m so impressed you make your own honey!!
I am very lucky to have such generous bees.. spice girl!! c
You keep bees?? Wow… I think that’s great! This summer’s drought has been very hard on our bee population (not much flowering stuff for them) and now my poor confused citrus trees are blooming out of season and not a bee in sight.
Love this honey idea… maybe next year I’ll have enough lemon verbena to try it! Mmmm…
Poor bees. They need lots of water too. You will have to pollinate your citrus with a paint brush (while buzzing) !! Don’t laugh Rachel, I have done it!! c
Oh, how I love honey! And I am sure so delicious with these pikelets, Thank you dear Cecilia,
with my love, nia
It is delicious! thank you nia.. c
How fantastic – I LOVE the idea of lemon verbena honey. I can imagine it’s extra soothing and so good with tea and, of course, pikelets :).
I think so too, saffron, it should be ready for tasting in a couple of weeks! c
Vicks 44 cough medicine got it’s start from the old time remedy, ( which lots of people still use in my area ) Moonshine Lemon and Honey.
Does it have Moonshine in it.?.. that is made in a still out in the hills? Lemon and Honey is a great way to soothe the throat for sure.. c
lol not just in the hills, but yes, Vicks 44 Cough Formula has alcohol in it…or at least it did for years…not sure these days.
Ah well thunder, we all live in hope. But I have learnt something.. thank you!!
This sounds wonderful – both the lemon verbena honey and the pikelets! I love the idea of having a rule about not buying wine with an animal on the label – sound advice, I think!
And when I break the rule I am punished! Every time. I am sure there are some lovely wines out there with animals on their labels and i do apologise to these wine makers.. (just so i don’t get into any more trouble today).. c
[…] for other uses… Marisa at Food In Jars had the idea of infusing it into honey (re-blogged by Cecilia, using honey from her OWN HIVES!). I like the sound of that, but I was wondering if anyone else had something special that they do […]
We get some gorgeous honey here but sometimes some pretty horrible wine – love the wine and honey combo…kind of a modern version of mead! Have never made pikelets but I adore then (and crumpets) but understand they are much easier to make than crumpets so should really give them a go…thanks for sharing!
Oh you are home Tanya. Welcome back! Hope you had a great time! c
Made ’em, ate ’em, mmmmmmmmmmm!!!
[…] thanks to Cecilia over at “the kitchen’s garden” for this easy and oh so good recipe… and my thanks to my friends for making it for us! I did nothing more than copy the recipe […]