Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday – Pancakes & Crepes

When we first started discussing this article, what we discovered was that every one of us has a different idea of what makes a good pancake, and a different recipe we've grown up with, depending on where in the world we're from. We can't even agree if they should be sweet or savoury!

As Tuesday 12th is Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, we thought we'd have a look at a few of our favourites!

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent in many Christian denominations. Traditionally, Lent is a time of fasting, so people used up as many rich foods as possible -things like eggs, milk and sugar with are key ingredients in pancakes. Of course, for some people, it's just a good excuse to eat some good old comfort food!

Of course, half the fun of pancakes is trying to toss them as you flip them over in the pan. I don't know about anyone else, but more often than not, mine land on the floor, however the current record is apparently 31 feet! Can anyone else do any better?

In Game Pancakes Recipe
In Game Crepes Recipe
Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
Fluffy Pancakes
Perfect pancakes
Basic pancakes with sugar and lemon
Dutch Bacon Pancakes
American blueberry pancakes
Basic Crepes
Tiramisu Crepes Recipe

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Original picture by: loleia

In Game Pancakes Recipe
The Sims 3
Skill level 1
Ingredients Fruit

The Sims 2
Skill level 3

In Game Crepes Recipe
The Sims 3
Skill level 8
Ingredients 2 Fruit
Book: Crepes

The Sims 2
Skill level 4
Group Meal Only


Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

  • In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
  • Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Source: http://allrecipes.co…ioned-pancakes/

Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • cooking spray

Directions

  • Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
  • Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Source: http://allrecipes.co…ffy-pancakes-2/


Perfect pancakes
Ingredients

  • 100g plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 300ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil or vegetable, plus extra for frying
  • pinch salt

Directions

  • Blending in the flour: Put the flour and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the middle, then pour in about 50ml milk and 1 tbsp oil. Start whisking from the centre, gradually drawing the flour into the eggs, milk and oil. Once all the flour is incorporated, beat until you have a smooth, thick paste. Add a little more milk if it is too stiff to beat.
  • Finishing the batter: Add a good splash of milk and whisk to loosen the thick batter. While still whisking, pour in a steady stream of the remaining milk. Continue pouring and whisking until you have a batter that is the consistency of slightly thick single cream. Traditionally, people would say to now leave the batter for 30 mins, to allow the starch in the flour to swell, but there's no need.
  • Getting the right thickness: Heat the pan over a moderate heat, then wipe it with oiled kitchen paper. Ladle some batter into the pan, tilting the pan to move the mixture around for a thin and even layer. Quickly pour any excess batter into a jug, return the pan to the heat, then leave to cook, undisturbed, for about 30 secs. Pour the excess batter from the jug back into the mixing bowl. If the pan is the right temperature, the pancake should turn golden underneath after about 30 secs and will be ready to turn.
  • Flipping pancakes: Hold the pan handle, ease a fish slice under the pancake, then quickly lift and flip it over. Make sure the pancake is lying flat against base of the pan with no folds, then cook for another 30 secs before turning out onto a warm plate. Continue with the rest of the batter, serving them as you cook or stack onto a plate. You can freeze the pancakes for 1 month, wrapped in cling film or make them up to a day ahead.

Source: http://www.bbcgoodfo…erfect-pancakes

Basic pancakes with sugar and lemon
Ingredients
For the pancake mixture
110g/4oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz butter

To serve
caster sugar
lemon juice
lemon wedges

Directions

  • Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets an airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs – any sort of whisk or even a fork will do – incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.
  • Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Now melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl and use it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake.
  • Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife – the other side will need a few seconds only – then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate.
  • Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest.
  • To serve, sprinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar and lemon juice and extra sections of lemon.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk…swithsuga_66226

Dutch Bacon Pancakes
Ingredients

  • 3 cups of milk
  • 1 egg
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2,5 cups of flour
  • Very thinly cut slices of bacon
  • Knob of butter for frying
  • Dutch syrup (or golden syrup)

Directions

  • Put the milk and the egg in a bowl along with the salt and whisk it until the egg is properly mixed in the batter. Add the flour gradually through a sieve while mixing the batter gently but thoroughly to prevent lumps. The consistency should be so that if you take up a ladle of batter and poor it back in the bowl there should be a depression in the batter there where you poor it back in. Sometimes you need to tweak my measurements a little to reach the ideal thickness. This all depends on what kind of milk, flour and eggs you use, but in general, this works.
  • So put a fryer on the fire and put in a little cube of butter and let it melt. Put three (or four depending on how much bacon you’d like) slices of bacon in the pan, you see then shrivel a little after a few seconds flip them and directly after that pour a ladle of batter over and around the bacon. Volume depending on how thin you like your pancake, a normal soup ladle works well for me.
  • Swirl the pan around so that the batter covers the whole bottom of the pan. Let it sit quietly until the top of the pancake is dry. Then flip quickly, best is to use the flip from the wrist technique using the pan, but if you don’t trust yourself with that kind of kitchen acrobatics use a spatula. Let the other side fry a little until colored.
  • Serve instantly with some syrup on top. The best one is Dutch syrup from, de Ruijter, but golden syrup comes close. Maple syrup is not bad either.
American blueberry pancakes
Ingredients

  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 300ml milk
  • knob butter
  • 150g pack blueberries
  • sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
  • golden or maple syrup

Directions

  • Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Beat the egg with the milk, make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter. Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.
  • Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan.
  • Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time.
  • Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden.
  • Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter.
  • Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.

Source: http://www.bbcgoodfo…eberry-pancakes

Basic Crepes
Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
  • Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
  • Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Source: http://allrecipes.co…e/basic-crepes/

Tiramisu Crepes Recipe
Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup 2% milk
  • 1/4 cup club soda
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons baking cocoa
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

  • 1 carton (8 ounces) Mascarpone cheese
  • 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup coffee liqueur or strong brewed coffee
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • Optional toppings: chocolate syrup, whipped cream and baking cocoa

Directions

  • In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, soda, butter, coffee and vanilla. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa and salt; add to milk mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Heat a lightly greased 8-in. nonstick skillet over medium heat; pour 2 tablespoons batter into the center of skillet. Lift and tilt pan to coat bottom evenly.
  • Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer.
  • Remove to a wire rack.
  • Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet as needed. When cool, stack crepes with waxed paper or paper towels in between.
  • For filling, in a large bowl, beat the cheeses and sugar until fluffy.
  • Add liqueur and vanilla; beat until smooth.
  • Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling down the center of each crepe; roll up. Top with chocolate syrup, whipped cream and cocoa if desired. Yield: 22 crepes.

Source: http://www.tasteofho…Tiramisu-Crepes

For more crepe fillings idea: http://www.world-of-…ng-recipes.html