Sunday Morning Buttermilk Hotcakes

What a beautiful day it was today! I woke up pretty late but snuck out of bed to let Matt sleep while I made buttermilk pancakes for a breaky surprise... This is a recipe of my own invention, I've honed it so that it makes the lightest, fluffiest American-Style Buttermilk Hotcakes.

For 2-3 generous serves you will need...
2 eggs, separated
2 Tbs icing sugar
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbs butter, extra for cooking
Lashings of maple syrup to serve... Maybe a side of bacon too ;-)

Method
1. Melt the butter in the microwave and leave to cool slightly, then whip your egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric mixer.
2. In a separate bowl whip the egg yolks with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds until it becomes a bit lighter in colour
2. Turn your electric mixer to low and begin adding the buttermilk and flour, alternating the two until both are well combined, then pour in the melted butter. The mix should look like a smooth cake batter.
3. Fold the egg whites (one half at a time) into the batter using a spatula, being careful not to knock the air out of the mixture
4. Place a non-stick frypan over a low-medium heat. Melt half the butter in the pan and make sure it coats the base of the pan well.
5. Spoon in the hotcake mixture (2 heaped dessert spoons make a good-sized hotcake) and cook on low until the top of the hotcake begins to form small bubbles, then flip and cook on the opposite side for 1 minute until golden brown* Repeat the process with the remaining butter and hotcake mixture.
6. Serve with whatever toppings you like**

*Keep the cooked hotcakes in a warm oven while you continue cooking the rest of the batch so they don't go cold :-)
**I used strawberries and maple because I couldn't be arsed cooking bacon, but normally we would have smokey bacon and even banana! YUM!