Perfect Weekend Brunch: Lemon Sugar Pancakes |

As I type this, I’m looking out of the window of my guest bedroom in London, where the sun is shining and the birds are tweet-tweeting merrily away. I actually walked down the street wearing only a T-shirt and a light blazer – bye bye jumpers! I guess Spring is finally here.

I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than with these Lemon Sugar Pancakes. They’re a traditional English breakfast treat but oddly enough I rarely see people enjoying them. (Whereas I am clearly a pancake addict.) I decorated my breakfast table with bright carnations in my mum’s cow-print pitcher, switched on our record player and filled the flat with the sound of oldies tunes and the smell of freshly squeezed lemons.

Now I know some of you will be thinking: ‘But sugar is the devil!!!’ Yes, it is. And yes, I still eat it sometimes, though very rarely. If you can’t bear to touch white sugar with a ten-foot pole, use raw cane sugar or coconut sugar instead (I personally love this ginger coconut sugar, though it’s everything but traditional). The thing is, though, you can’t have lemon sugar pancakes without the sugar, so if you love this treat, get over your health taboos.

These pancakes are the thin European kind, but made with oat flour so they’re gluten-free! Can’t find oat flour in the shops? Make your own by grinding oats in your blender or food processor. It takes literally 30 seconds.

I use lemons a lot more often in my cooking now that the sun is out and about more often (we even went to the beach recently!), but in this weird in-between season where it’s warm during the day and cold at night, I keep hopping between light desserts and decadent chocolate treats. It’s a weird time of year, but I enjoy it so much more than the constancy of summer or winter days. (FIY, constant summer weather in Scotland equals warm rain.)

What about you – what are you craving in this changeable weather? Do you find your appetite changing?