Smoked Salmon Pikelet Bites with Lemon-Dill Cream Cheese

Method

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, add the egg beaten with the milk (for one serving, beat 1 egg and use half) and stir just until the lumps are gone. Stir in half the chives and leave for 5 min. With no sugar, the batter is a little thicker than the sweet kind; that's normal.

   Add in this stepPlain flour 75 gBaking powder 1 tspSalt 1 pinchEgg 1Milk 100 mlChives or spring onion tops, finely snipped 2 tsp

2. Finely grate the lemon zest into the room-temperature cream cheese, then add about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 70% of the dill and the pepper, and beat until smooth. Spooning it into a piping bag or zip bag makes topping easy.

   Add in this stepCream cheese, at room temperature 80 gLemon (zest and juice) ¼Fresh dill, chopped 1.4 tspBlack pepper 1 pinch

3. Heat a 26 cm frying pan over medium heat for 2 minutes, lower to medium-low heat and wipe it thinly with butter on paper towel. Drop 2-teaspoon blobs of batter to make mini pikelets about 4 cm across, cook for 1 min, flip when bubbles pop and cook for 45 sec. Cook in batches, re-buttering lightly each time.

   Add in this stepButter (for the pan) 10 g

   medium-low heat

4. Spread the pikelets on a wire rack and let them cool completely, about 10 min. Topped warm, the cream cheese melts and slides off.

5. Pipe a dot of cream cheese on each pikelet, fold a ribbon of smoked salmon on top and finish with a caper or two and the remaining dill and chives.

   Add in this stepSliced smoked salmon 80 gCapers 1 tspFresh dill, chopped 0.6 tspChives or spring onion tops, finely snipped 2 tsp