Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Halve and core the pears, and quarter them if large. Place in a roasting dish big enough to hold them in a single layer. Combine the melted butter & sugar and pour over the pears. Toss to coat. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until golden and tender. They may need longer if unripe to start with.

Make the butterscotch sauce: combine the butter, brown sugar, cream and vanilla in a small pot. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved, the butter has melted and the sauce just starts to thicken. Season with salt to taste. Set aside.

In a small pot, combine the chopped dates, baking soda and 1/2 cup water. Cook over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until the dates go mushy and form almost a paste with the water. Stir frequently to ensure it doesn’t catch. Remove from the heat and put in the fridge to cool.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, melted butter and vanilla essence.

Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir to just combine. Fold in the date paste to just combine.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks (but not dry). In two batches, gently fold into the date mixture.

Heat a large frying pan (or 2, for faster cooking!) over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp butter to grease. When the butter starts to foam, ladle about 1/4 cup of the pancake batter into the pan (cook about 3 at a time depending on the size of your pan). Cook for a couple of minutes on each side until golden brown underneath (they are pretty soft so can be tricky to flip!).

Transfer to a warm plate while you cook the rest.

To serve, place a couple of pancakes on each plate and arrange the roast pears on top. Drizzle with warm butterscotch sauce and dust with icing sugar