With Shrove Tuesday (lovingly known as Pancake Day) fast approaching, these are our best pancake recipes.
Best pancake recipes
Khagineh
Somewhere between a pancake and an omelette, khagineh is one of the most traditional Persian desserts, particularly popular amongst the Azeri people in Iran. Derived from the word ‘khagh’, meaning ‘egg’ in Azari language, khagineh is best translated as ‘sugar omelette’, but while eggs are a key ingredient, the addition of flour and yoghurt contribute to producing a batter that’s more akin to pancakes. A simple dish to make at home, these Iranian pancakes are typically served with rose syrup, but can be enjoyed with a variety of toppings or fillings. At Nutshell London, chef Marwa Alkhalaf is fond of serving khagineh with date molasses and a sprinkle of chopped walnut or pistachio.
Iranian Khagineh Pancakes
Equipment
- Non-stick medium size frying pan
Ingredients
- 2 eggs medium
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- a pinch of saffron infused with 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Whisk the eggs with the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the dry ingredients, rest the mix for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Place your non-stick medium size pan on medium heat and brush with oil.
- Pour half of your mix in and cover it. When the edges start to dry out, flip it on the other side.
- Repeat with the rest of the mix.
Notes
Jianbing
Described as falling somewhere between a crepe and a dosa, jianbing are a particularly popular breakfast dish in the Shandong province of China. Typically made with batter that’s spread thin, jianbing are commonly topped with a beaten egg, fresh herbs, pickles, dried chilli, sweet and spicy sauces, and a selection of customisable toppings. This jianbing recipe from Chinese Tapas House is simple to make at home, with the wheat and mung bean flour batter cooked in a circular pan, then flipped and slathered with sweet bean (Tianmian) and chilli sauces, topped with Frankfurter sausages and spring onions. It’s also worth adding an extra egg (to be cooked on the inside, before adding the sauce), a fried wonton wrapper, or sticks of fried bread for additional crunch.
Jianbing
Ingredients
- 50 g flour
- 50 g mung bean flour if there is no mung bean flour available, just increase the flour to 100g
- 2 eggs
- 2 Frankfurter sausages cut into chunks
- Cooking oil
- Sweet bean (Tianmian) sauce
- Chilli sauce
- 4 spring onions chopped
Instructions
- Mix 180ml water with both flours to make the batter. Beat the two eggs together.
- Add a little oil to the frying pan. Once hot, spread the pancake batter on the pan, add the eggs to the top of the pancake. Leave for 1 to 2 minutes in the frying pan.
- Flip the pancake over. Drizzle over the sweet bean and chilli sauce, top with the chopped spring onions and Frankfurter sausages.
- Roll it up and cut in the middle. Ready to eat.
Crêpes Suzette
A traditional French dessert, Crêpes Suzette is the ultimate decadent pancake dish, typically consisting of pancakes with beurre Suzette – a sauce of caramelised sugar, butter, orange juice, zest, and liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Curaçao. This recipe from Le Pont De La Tour is perfect for pancake day, served table-side – just exercise caution while flambéing at home.
Crêpes Suzette
Ingredients
For the vanilla ice cream (alternatively use 6 scoops pre-made ice cream)
- 70 g whipping cream
- 280 g whole milk
- ½ vanilla pod
- 35 g glucose syrup
- 70 g egg yolk
- 50 g caster sugar
For the crêpes
- 250 g milk
- 125 g flour
- 15 g caster sugar
- 8 g vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 20 g melted butter
For the caramel syrup
- 325 g caster sugar
- ½ lemon
- ¼ vanilla pod
- Pinch of sea salt
- Zest from ½ orange (just peeled)
- 140 g butter
- 450 g orange juice
For the orange confit
- Zest of 1 orange
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g water
To plate
- 25 ml brandy
- 5 orange segments
- 2 crêpes
- 150 g caramel syrup per recipe above
- 1 scoop vanilla ice cream topped with orange confit
Instructions
To make the vanilla ice cream (optional)
- Begin by making the vanilla ice cream. (If using pre-made ice cream, skip this step)
- Boil the milk, cream, glucose and the vanilla pod.
- Mix the egg yolks and sugar, pour half the liquid onto the yolks, mix and return to the remaining milk.
- Cook the base to 85 degrees, pass through a fine sieve and cool over ice.
- Churn in ice cream machine.
To make the crêpes
- Mix the dry ingredients together and then add to the beaten egg and vegetable oil. Add the butter last, making sure it is not hot.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan (ideally 240mm diameter). Make sure the pan is really hot, then add a small block of butter and add a ladle of batter to create a very thin pancake. Cook on medium heat then flip and cook on the reverse side. Remove from pan and cool on the side. Continue until all batter is used.
- To make the caramel syrup
- Make a light dry caramel using the caster sugar and add the salt. Stir the caramel with the half lemon using a fork attached to the end of the lemon. Add the zest and vanilla. Add the orange juice in 3 stages and bring to the boil. Add the butter last and pass through a fine sieve.
To make the orange confit
- Peel the skin of the orange with a peeler, trying not the peel the white bitter parts. Slice to fine strips.
- Boil some water in small pan and add the orange skin. Pass it through a strainer and cool it down with cold water. Repeat this process 2 more times. Bring the sugar and water to the boil add the orange skin and simmer until the skin is candied.
To plate one portion of the Crepe Suzette
- Warm a shallow sauté pan and add 150g of the syrup. Bring to the boil and add the two crêpes. Bring back to the boil and add the brandy.
- Carefully flambé the brandy using an open flame. When the flames have disappeared carry on boiling to achieve a good syrupy sauce. Drop in the orange segments to warm through, then fold the crêpes into quarters and arrange on a plate.
- Spoon over the orange segments with the sauce and serve with the ice cream on the side.
Dutch Baby
This Dutch Baby pancake recipe is a fresh take on an American-European classic, with many similarities to Yorkshire puddings, yet they’re typically made with more eggs and baked in cast iron frying pans. The addition of sugar and vanilla also makes the pancakes sweet. This recipe from Lucy Carr-Ellison, co-founder of Tart London and Belgravia restaurant Wild by Tart, calls for mascarpone, raspberry compote, and honeycomb, adding extra interplay of both flavour and texture.
Dutch Baby Pancakes
Equipment
- 26cm oven-proof, heavy-based frying pan
Ingredients
- 60 g plain flour
- 2 eggs
- 120 ml whole milk
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 30 g butter melted
- A pinch of salt
- 150 g raspberries
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp icing sugar
To serve
- Icing sugar
- 3 tbsp mascarpone
- Honeycomb chunks
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 220°C.
- Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and sugar with the melted butter. Tip the flour into a bowl and make a well. Slowly pour in the egg mixture, whisking as you go, until all of the flour is incorporated and you have a smoother batter. Leave to stand for 15 minutes.
- Place the raspberries in a pan over a medium heat, squeeze in half and lemon and add the icing sugar. The raspberries will start to collapse, bring to a simmer for 2 mins and take off the heat.
- Place your pan over a very high heat until smoking, add the butter and swirl around the edges, immediately add your pancake mix and place in the oven for about 15 minutes until all puffed up and golden.
- Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Dollop on the mascarpone and then spoon over the raspberries. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar, a drizzle of honey and some crumbled chunks of honeycomb.
Crêpes De Simone
A traditional French recipe from chef Pascal Aussignac of Michelin-starred Club Gascon. These thin, lacy pancakes are made using an easy formula of two rounded tablespoons to one egg, with the batter ideally rested for up to two hours in the fridge and thinned down with just a splash of water.
Pascal Aussignac’s Crêpes De Simone
Ingredients
- 1 Large free-range egg
- 2 Rounded tablespoons of flour (approximately 40g) + pinch of sea salt
- 200 ml Milk
- 1 tbsp Armagnac or dark rum
- 1 tbsp Orange flower water
- A little sunflower oil, for greasing the pan
- Caster sugar, for serving
Instructions
- “In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg with the flour, then gradually beat in the milk, next the Armagnac and orange flower water.
- Heat a crêpe pan, about 20cm round, and lightly brush with a little oil. (My mother uses a fork wrapped with a little cotton cloth.) When you can feel a good heat rising from the pan, pout in a small ladle of batter (about 50ml) and quickly swirl the pan to coat.
- Cook until thin and lacy. When the batter sets on top, loosen the edges of the crêpes and flip over for a few seconds to brown the underside.
- Then slide the crêpe out onto a clean tea towel of sheet of kitchen paper. Reheat the pan and repeat with the oiling and cooking. Stack the crêpes up on each other to keep them moist and serve simply sprinkled with caster sugar.”