For the first time in a few years, Pancake Tuesday falls during Valentine’s week, which made it difficult to decide what to focus on for this week’s recipes... but pancakes won.
We love the tradition of Shrove Tuesday in our home, getting everyone together in the kitchen to test their pancake flipping skills and experimenting with topping combinations.
Whether you prefer traditional pancakes or fancy something a little more luxurious like a crệpe Suzette, this week’s recipes are all you need this pancake Tuesday.
Traditional Pancake
Ingredients
(Serves 4)
- 3 eggs
- 200ml buttermilk
- 300g flour
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tbsp treacle
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Butter
Method
- To begin, whisk the eggs, buttermilk and treacle together in a bowl. Next sieve in the flour, baking soda and sugar and make a well in the centre before adding the buttermilk. Whisk the mix into a smooth batter and set this aside for 20 minutes.
- Rub a frying pan with butter before putting it onto the heat. Drop in a tablespoon of the mix. If you plan on cooking several pancakes at a time, keep them well apart as the mix will spread.
- Once you begin to see bubbles forming in the centre of the pancake, turn it over and cook for one more minute on the other side. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Eat while hot with lemon and sugar, maple syrup or chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream – the choices are endless.
Crepe Suzette
Crêpe Suzette is a French dessert consisting of a crêpe with beurre Suzette, a sauce of caramelised sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, served flambé.
Ingredients
- 110g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs
- 200ml whole milk
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- 15g caster sugar
- 50g melted butter
For the sauce
- 200ml orange juice
- Zest of 1 orange
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 25g caster sugar
- 50ml Grand Marnier
- 50g butter
Method
To make the crepes:
- Beat the sugar, eggs, orange zest and flour together then add in the milk and melted butter. Cover with cling film and leave to stand for one hour at room temperature to allow the gluten to relax - this will ensure you have a light batter.
- In a non-stick frying pan melt a little butter and once the butter is foaming, ladle in enough batter to cover the pan and allow to colour slightly (approximately 90 seconds per side). Remove from the pan and place onto a plate with a piece of grease proof paper in between each pancake.
To make the sauce
- Mix all of the ingredients in a pot and gently bring to the boil, allowing to simmer for five minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
- Ladle some sauce into a larger frying pan and allow it to heat very gently.
- Place the first crêpe in the pan and give it time to warm through before folding it in half and then half again to make a triangular shape. Continue like this until they’re all re-heated, folded and well soaked with the sauce.
- At this point, you can flame if you like. Heat a ladle by holding it over a gas flame or by resting it on the edge of a hotplate then, away from the heat, pour a little brandy into it, return it to the heat to warm the spirit then set light to it and pour over the crêpes.
