Easy Cheesy Pancake Recipe Ideas
If your weakness is a fluffy stack dripping in maple syrup, a fridge-clearing okonomiyaki or boozy, lacy crepes, you’ll already know next Tuesday March 1st is Pancake Tuesday. For Christians, the day traditionally involves clearing out ingredients such as eggs and butter that were given up for Lent, a 40-day period of abstinence. Growing up, many of us just knew it as a great excuse to stuff ourselves with pancakes.
A couple of things to note, your first pancake is always a dud. It’s a well-known, scientific fact. That’s ok, it gives you something to snack on while you man the pans. And yes, if you have two pans on the go, that’s helpful but no worries if you don’t. Talking of pans, a shallow non-stick pan is ideal. Whatever your weapon, don’t be shy with the butter. We are frying these little suckers.
Serves: 2 Prep time: 5 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes
Basic Batter
Ingredients
- 30g butter – melted and cooled
- 125g plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 300 - 350ml milk
Method
- Add the butter to your pan of choice until it melts then set aside to cool.
- Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Combine the eggs with the milk then add the cooled butter and stir well. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, whisking until smooth. If you want thinner crepe-like results, add more liquid. If you want plump little pikelets, aim for a thicker batter. Ideally, you put the whole lot aside for 30 minutes but if you don’t have time, plough on.
- Heat up your pan to a medium heat and add more butter. Pour in your batter, tilting the pan to achieve the level of aesthetics you’re searching for. Cook for 1-2 min or until small bubbles form.
- Flip and cook 1 min or until nicely golden then remove to a plate. Continue cooking the balance of the mix, keeping the pancakes warm under a tea towel/upturned dish.
For maximum cheesiness with minimum effort, add one of the following combinations to your basic batter recipe above.
- Clothbound Cheddar & kimchi
- Parmigiano Reggiano & a few finely chopped spring onions
- Creamy blue cheese (eg Bleu de Laqueuille or Cashel Blue), handful of spinach/kale (cooked and drained) & dill
Plump pikelets can be topped with all manner of sweet things. Some of our favourites are:
- Honey-spiked ricotta sprinkled with chopped pistachios and ripe berries
- Peaches roasted with brown sugar and a generous dollop of best yoghurt
Buckwheat crepes with Comté and ham
Swap out 50g – 75g of the flour for buckwheat flour. Traditional Breton crepes are quite thin so you will probably need to thin down the batter; milk or water will do just fine.
After cooking on the first side for 30-60 seconds, add some grated Comté and a slice of ham. Fold the edges of the crepe in so it makes a rectangle.
Flip and briefly cook the top then serve with more cheese because cheese is life. Adding a fried egg will make you even more popular with friends and family.
By Amanda Kennedy
