Pancake Tuesday!

So yesterday was Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday to my readers across the pond!), but here in Ireland we tend to call it Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day. Shrove Tuesday was traditionally the last day of feasting, a way to use up eggs, fat and sugar (all the good stuff!), before Lent and fasting started. If you grew up in Ireland, you’d of course know this but honestly it’s really all just about the pancakes. Pancakes for breakfast and lunch if you were lucky and PANCAKES FOR DINNER!!! As a child, there was nothing more exciting than having pancakes for dinner. As an adult, nothing much has changed! And ya ya, of course you can have pancakes on any day of any week if you wish but there’s something magical about Pancake Day!

I am rubbish at making pancakes. I remember trying in second year of college. I’d convinced my French housemate to make them (under the allusion that surely she must be good at making crepes if she’s French!). They didn’t work. Next up was my American housemate, they didn’t work either. I gave it a whirl and after a whole jug a batter, we each got one tiny pancake! This year I was making them for 7 people in my house, including myself and didn’t want a repeat performance from that year. So I went off on a hunt and decided to use the recipe I found on Mammy’s Kitchen as well as following some of the helpful guidelines I found on Babaduck Babbles. And it worked! Well, the first one or two pancakes weren’t great but after that they were fine! And quite tasty too! I doubled the batter as well to feed everyone at mine.

Pancakes

Serves 3-4 people

Adapted from Mammy’s Kitchen

Ingredients

240g flour

2 eggs

1 pint (570ml) milk

50g sugar (optional)

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl (or into the bowl of a food processor). Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth

2. Heat a frying pan on medium heat with a little oil (or butter, which I use. But be careful not to let it burn). Using a ladle, pour batter into the pan and swirl to distribute evenly. Once bubble appear on the surface, flip or turn over to brown the other side.

3. Serve with toppings of your choice! I love sweet pancakes, so I like to use things like Nutella, golden syrup, ice cream and marshmallows (not together mind you!). You can also make savoury pancakes with things like cheese, ham, onions etc. Though sometimes I just like to keep it simple with a sprinkle of sugar and lemon or just a small amount of butter.

They are so simple to make and can be whipped up using pantry items. I must remember to make them more often as they are so delicious!

One of the flops above! Or smushcakes as I call them