Singular Sensation!

Piccola Torta die Mandorla, Semolina e Fichi

Oven-Baked Almond & Semolina Pancake with Fig

One Sicilian guy's breakfast made from 1 egg, 1 fig, 1 cup ground almonds, 1 cup sliced almonds, 1 cup yogurt, 1 tablespoon Stevia, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and one happy smile when the whole thing was finished!

Yes, it was Sunday morning and time for me to make my traditional attempt of doing something "nice" for breakfast. I do love pancakes and I did have one more beautiful fig left over.... hmmm- but the idea of simply dropping the figs in with the pancake mix or having them on the side was just not "doing it" for me. Whereby THIS here little idea came to mind and was instantly a whole lot more appealing! And hardly any more work was involved which made it better still! 

So, this is how it all happened. First of all, of course, I turned on the oven to have it nice and hot and ready- straight up to 350°F... no need to be too particular here as it is basically just a pancake batter we are going to be baking. Plus, I don't know how to bake anyway ;-)

I took the egg and separated it, whipped the egg white until it was nice and fluffy and firm and set the yolk to one side to be mixed with the other ingredients, which I added (all but the almond slices), completely without ceremony, plop, plop, plop straight into the bowl. If there are any secret alchemical procedures I could have used that I am not aware of... I am not really interested- because this method worked out just fine!

I whisked all of the ingredients up into a nice, smooth creamy batter, then turned my mixer down a speed and gently whisked in the egg whites. I then took the fig and cut it into 6 slices, poured the batter into my baking dish and set the fig slices on top decoratively.

I baked my little cake for 15 minutes until it had puffed up nicely and begun to form a soft, crust. I then removed it from the oven and sprinkled it with the almond slices. I gave it a very light drizzle of honey and popped it back into the oven for a further 10 minutes or so. Basically it was just the time I needed to do my washing up and tidying away of the bows and whisks I had used... hey! We single guys have to keep on top of things like that!

By the time I was done, so was breakfast- ta-dah! It was fluffy and golden brown and smelling of almond and cinnamon- und quite simply delicious!  It really isn't any wonder that I make this kind of thing again and again... in fact- I highly recommend that you do too!