Have you been battered, literally? This one recipe is so flexible and diverse it makes batters, pancakes, yorkshire puddings etc all with a variation on a theme from the same recipe.

One batter can make superb yorkshire puddings to serve with your roast. Another would make pancakes which could be filled with either sweet or savoury fillings. Then you can also make crepe suzettes, a perfect dessert for a meal when quartered and served with cointreau, brandy, orange juice, butter and sugar. And there is more, make a simple batter to coat fruits, fish, meats or even vegetables. Even the batter itself you can add so many differing ingredients to create different taste and texture from fluffy light tempura batter to Stout Ale Batter and many more.

In some of our many fish & chip shops they have been experiementing with battering something new.  While they have been looking to find ever new and exciting products to temp us all with, it has been known for them to even batter the most unusal of products such as a chocolate mars bar.

Fruit Fritters are a favourite with many a younger guest in our kitchen and they are so easy to do.

You will need - 100g Plain Flour, pinch of salt, 125ml water,1 x 15ml spoon of oil, fresh or canned fruit and oil for deep frying.

To make - mix  the flour and salt, gradually beat in the water, stir on the 15ml spoon oil. Prepare the fruit as needed, so if fresh fruit peel, core, & slice apples; peel & halve small, firm bananas; peel, core & slice small ripe pears; peel & core rings of pineapple for example. If canned fruit drain the fruit well first. Next dip your peices of prepared fruit in the batter using a fork and then fry in hot, deep oil for about 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown and crisp.  You can then drain on kitchen toweling and serve with some fruity sauces.

Deep fryers can be useful to have around as used correctly they will absorb the least amount of oil if the item is cooked at the correct temperature. This compact Moulinex Minuto Deep Fat Fryer is perfect for kitchens where worktop space is at a premium, or when you only want to fry small quantities of food. The bowl is fixed with a non-stick coating making it easy to clean and holds over a litre of oil. With a 400g food capacity there is room for rustling up some delicious French fries, while a permanent metallic filter suppresses cooking odours. The lid is removable and even has a convenient viewing window. With adjustable thermostat

Tell me your favourite batter and I will blog some further batter recipes for you to try, so let me know whether its sweet or savoury?