Pancake Day is the one day of the year when it’s acceptable (if not an obligation) to eat pancakes for each and every meal. Honestly, we can’t get enough of it. The flipping, the toppings, more toppings, the eating, the making the third batch of batter because 5 for dessert definitely wasn’t enough… Anyone else as into it as we are!?
Whether you like your pancakes sweet or savoury, whether you roll or fold, we want you to get as involved as we’re going to be - and it seems you will be, with everyone Googling 'When is pancake day 2022?' in the lead up to this fantastic day - so we’ve got some pancake pros on board to share their tips, recipes and techniques.
First of all, the tips...
It’s all about the frying pan
Guys, this isn’t the occasion to skimp on tools: you need a good frying pan. No amount of butter or oil is going to make up for the fact that your 10-year old frying pan is past it. Invest now and reap the benefit of flawless pancakes and flip-tastic fun.
We love our Tefal Ingenio frying pan — not only is it impressively non-stick even without butter or oil, but the fact that the plastic handle comes off means that when we’ve made our giant stack (which of course, we definitely have), we can put it in the oven to keep them all warm.
And patience
“Pouring your well-mixed batter into an under heated pan is a sure-fire way to turn your pancakes into a flop,” says Stefan Kaczmarczyk, Tefal’s Cookware Marketing Manager. Let the pan heat up and add butter if the pan isn’t non-stick. Pour in the batter and once the topside starts to bubble, it’s ready to be flipped – using wooden or plastic turners only (or else ruining the non-stick coating on the pan). “Remember, the perfect pancake should only be flipped once, over-handling can make the pancake tough, and multiple flips make for an uneven cook.”
Now which toppings!?
Pancakes are delicious whether you’re in camp sweet or savoury. Some of us drown them in maple syrup, others have them swimming in lemon and sugar, then others roll them with ham. What about trying something entirely new this year? Chef-de-Partie Beatriz Sanchez of The Arch London says, “Try using different cheeses such as brie, ricotta, or blue cheese which taste amazing when melted inside a crispy pancake.”
How to make pancakes: the basic guidelines ...
According to Aurelia Delclos-Noel, Founder Of French Restaurant Chez Antoinette...
'I learnt to make crêpes when I was very young and I’d stay at my grandmother’s house in Aix en Provence in France. It was one of the first recipes I learnt from her. Nothing is better than a crêpe for your 4pm snack (le gouter) or more entertaining than watching your grandmother throw the pancakes a metre into the air. I’ve been making crêpes ever since.' Here’s how to make the crème de le crème for Shrove Tuesday:
1 Choose the best ingredient
The recipe is not very complicated so the better the quality of your ingredients the better your pancakes will be. Go for full fat milk, free range eggs etc…
2 Add flavour to the recipe
The good thing with pancakes is that you can adapt the recipe to your taste by adding a specific flavour like vanilla extract, caramel, lemon or even alcohol like Grand Manier, Cointreau and fruit liquor
3 Leave your dough to rest
Cooking in a rush is never a good idea. If you want to bake or cook well, you need organisation and time. You need to leave the dough to rest at room temperature for at least one hour. This will help you to get the right texture and make delicious pancakes.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the very special pancake recipes...
1. The Gourmet Ones: Wild Blueberry and Ice Cream crêpes
A deliciously, decadent dessert, these crêpes combine three of our favourite things - rich, fruit-filled Wild Blueberry jam from Bonne Maman, plus vanilla ice cream coated in crushed chocolate chip cookies. What could make life even better? Adding a dash of Cassis to the Wild Blueberry...
Ingredients
2 chocolate chip cookies
4 large French crêpes, see this Bonne Maman Classic French Crêpes recipe
8 tbsp Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Conserve
500ml carton good quality vanilla ice cream
Fresh mint sprigs
Icing sugar, to serve
Method
Put the biscuits in a small food bag and crush with a rolling pin into fine crumbs.
Spread each crêpe with a generous amount of wild blueberry conserve.
Top with 3 small scoops of vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle with the chocolate biscuit crumbs and a few sprigs of fresh mint.
Roll up the crêpes, dust lightly with icing sugar and eat straight away or freeze for up to 1 week.
Thaw at room temperature for 10 minutes before eating.
Cook’s tip
For a more adult pudding add a splash of cassis to the wild blueberry conserve before crêpes.
2. The Healthy Ones: Banana And Apple Pancakes
Ingredients:
Two cups flaxseed meal
1.1/2 cups pecans
Two bananas
One apple, chopped and pureed
1.1/4 cup maple syrup
1.1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
1.1/2 cup filtered water
Method:
Place all ingredients into a food processor and process into a batter. Spread the mixture and use a ring mould to cut into desired shapes.
Dehydrate for a couple of hours or place into your oven at minimum temperature leaving the door slightly open to keep the temperature low for about 1 hour until the tops of the pancakes are dry.
Serve topped with berries and cacao nibs and drizzled with maple syrup.
3. The ‘Acceptable To Eat For Dinner’ Ones: Quinoa Pancakes With Orange Honey
Martin Morales, chef and founder of Andina, our favourite Pervuian spot in East London, has shared his easy-to-make quinoa pancake recipe, which he suggests serving with orange-infused honey. Quinoa is a totally dinner thing, right…
Ingredients:
40.grams cooked white quinoa (boiled for 12 minutes)
20.grams plain flour
50.ml milk
10.ml water
1.1/2 beaten egg
Two tablespoons of honey infused with orange rind and 2 teaspoons of fresh orange juice
Two tablespoons of clotted cream
Method:
Whisk quinoa, flour, beaten egg, milk, water, pinch of salt and pinch of sugar.
Fry with a drop of vegetable oil until golden on each side. Pour over honey and clotted
4. The Straight Forward, As You Remember Them Ones
Because sometimes simple is best, Chef Beatriz Sanchez shared her basic pancake recipe for pancakes so easy and cheap to make, you can justify making a whole stack.
Ingredients:
75.grams plain flour
120.ml full fat milk
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
One egg
Method:
Put the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and make a dip in the centre using a spoon.
In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and egg together, and then whisk this gradually into the flour mixture. The batter should resemble the consistency of single cream.
Pour a ladle’s worth of batter into a heavy non-stick frying pan over a steady medium to high heat.
Flip, plate up, repeat.
5. The ‘I Got Home From Work Late’ Ones
Some days don’t run as smoothly as they should and just because it’s Pancake Day doesn’t mean things don’t crop up. Anticipate chaos and prepare for Pancake Day in advance (because shops always run out of flour anyway) with Abra-ca-Debora’s Diddy Dutch Pancakes.
You could just eat these out the bag or dip them in sugar but that’s not really getting into the spirit of things. We suggest warming them slightly in a frying pan, melting a bar of dark chocolate in the microwave and pour the runny, warm chocolate all over them. Mmm!
6. The Chunky Breakfast Ones: Tom's Kitchen Blueberry Pancakes
If you prefer your pancakes extra chunky, these are for you. Thick and fluffy pancakes with blueberries, they're perfect for serving with maple syrup or yoghurt at breakfast.
Ingredients:
300.grams self-raising flour
60.grams sugar
1.bsp baking powder
1.1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.1/2 tsp salt
Two eggs
150.ml milk
300.ml buttermilk
1.tsp vanilla extract
1.1/2 tsp almond essence
60.grams unsalted butter, melted
100.grams blueberries
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Sift all the dry ingredients together in one bowl.**
Whisk the eggs, milk, buttermilk, vanilla extract and almond essence together in another bowl, then add them to the dry ingredients.
Whisk until smooth, then add the melted butter and continue to whisk until thoroughly mixed in. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
Grease a non-stick pan and drop in large spoonfuls of the batter. Cook in the oven for about 8 minutes until golden. (You can also cook these pancakes on top of the stove but they cook more evenly in the oven.)
7. The ‘I’m Sick Of Pancakes What Else Is On The Menu’ Ones: Waffles!
Okay granted, once we’ve had 3 for breakfast and 2 more for lunch, we’re probably a bit over them by diner time. Which is when we move on to waffles! Aha, you thought al the fun was over, it definitely isn’t. Dust off your waffle maker or if you don’t have one, we suggest hotfooting it down to a department store to invest in this geniusCuisinart Waffle Maker), and get to it!
The good thing about waffles is that they’re slightly more substantial than pancakes, so the hope is that you don’t eat quite as many - unlike pancakes which slip down without you noticing.
Ingredients:
250.grams plain flour
9.grams baking powder
2.tsp ground cinnamon
5.salt
400.ml whole milk
Three eggs
30.vegetable oil
Method:
Place all the dry ingredients into the bowl of the food processor or blend by hand in large mixing bowl.
Add the eggs one by one and then add the milk and oil. Leave this mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Turn on the waffle maker and let it heat up (until the green light shows). Place a ladle of your batter into each side of the waffle maker. Let it spread into the mould before closing the lid tightly and letting it cook for 6-8 minute.
Serve with toppings of your choice.