Baking
57 recipes
Pancakes, or crêpes, are the best. They are the base for so many ideas, sweet and savoury. This is a simple version that gives thin, sugarless pancakes ready for any toppings.
You can go for sweet breakfasts with maple syrup, Nutella, or lemon and sugar. Or savoury versions with smoked salmon, horseradish cream with capers. Or you can fill and roll them with a savoury spinach, cheese and ham, or with sweet fresh fruit and cream.
You could look into desserts like the famous Crêpes Suzette or add some cocoa sugar and bake them to make chocolate crêpes as per below.
Bake them with an Italian mix of spinach and ricotta to make Crespelle (Tuscan crêpes instead of pasta).
Is a great recipe to learn off the top of your head, for any last-minute dessert, treat for the kids or decadent brunch.
Makes 12- 14 pancakes. V.
Pictured: Pancakes
Ingredients
- 110g plain flour
- Pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 200ml milk mixed with 75 ml water
- Butter for greasing pan, at least 25g
- For chocolate crêpes –
- Mis 25g cocoa with 75g caster sugar
- Melted butter for brushing over crêpes
- Optional: 1 - 2 tbsp brandy or cognac in the batter
Method
Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the eggs and milk – mix with either electric beaters or a whisk and slowly incorporate the flour mix into the centre to make a smooth batter like runny cream.
Some like to rest the batter in the fridge for half an hour to settle, I tend to need to use it straight away and it works just fine!
I like to use an actual crepe pan as they are non-stick and the prefect pancake diameter (18cm/7 inch). Any good non-stick pan will do though.
Warm the pan onto a med-high heat, add a small piece of butter and swirl it around the pan to cover, spoon in 2 tbsp or so of batter and swirl that around to the edges as well. Cook 30 seconds first side– have a good pallet knife or egg flipper ready to lift the edges to check it is nicely browned, and to flip them over – the other side will take less time to cook so be at the ready. Repeat for each pancake.
Turn them onto plates ready to serve – we tend to organise the order of receivers and everyone eat them as they come off the pan fresh. Otherwise you can stack them and keep warm in a low oven. You can also cook them in advance, stacked onto a plate and fold them into triangles and microwave a few seconds to warm up, or warm up again in the oven.
Serve with your favourite toppings and enjoy!
For chocolate crêpes – Brush the top of each crepe with melted butter and sprinkle over the cocoa sugar mix. Place on a baking paper lined tray either layered on top of each other up to 6 pancakes, or fold each into triangles for individual serves. Bake in a 170C oven until the tops are starting to crisp.
Pictured: chocolate crêpes
Dietary preferences
- Vegetarian
