If you’re looking for Pancake Day ideas then look no further- we’ve got the basic recipe plus a variety of pancake toppings suggestions, from the normal to the slightly ‘out there’. Here’s an easy basic recipe for pancakes, so take the kids to the supermarket and let them get creative with toppings suggestions.
This recipe makes 6-8 pancakes.
You will need:
- 110g/4oz of plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/ 3fl oz of water
- 50g/ 2oz of butter
What to do:
- Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
- Make a hole in the centre of the flour and break the 2 eggs into it. (To avoid getting any little bits of egg shell in the mix, you might decide to break the eggs into a glass before mixing them with the flour)
- Now mix well with a whisk or fork.
- Next add the milk and water into the bowl mixing as you go. Here you might need the help of your kids. They could gradually add the water and milk as you quickly whisk. This could be the recipe for disaster…or at least a lot of mess.
- You might find that the mixture gets lumpy, don’t worry, keep mixing! Once the contents of the bowl become creamy in texture it can be left for a moment as it is now time to melt the butter.
- Gently melt the 50g/ 2oz in the frying pan and then add about 2tbs of the melted butter into the pancake mixture. The rest of it can be used in the pan between pancakes to stop them sticking so transfer this into a little bowl.
- Once the frying pan is sizzling and wet with a little of the butter it is time to add the mixture!
- Slowly pour some of the mix into the middle of the pan and move the liquid pancake around the pan by tilting it around until the batter looks almost circular. The more mix you add, the thicker the pancake will be. Too thin and they might stick to the pan. The more you make the better the pancake making will become! Practice makes perfect.
- After a few seconds, delicately slide your spatula round the edges of the pancake, lifting up to check the progress. Continue to lift the edges of the pancake up and soon enough you will see that the whole bottom side of the pancake will have turned golden-brown. It is then time to flip your pancake over. Once both sides are done, plate it up and enjoy!
Pancake toppings ideas
There really is no limit to what you can put on a pancake- they go with most things! You can’t go wrong with Nutella or bananas, but if the kids fancy being crazy (as kids like to do) then why not indulge their whacky ideas? You never know, it might actually taste good.
Pancakes can work with either sweet or savoury toppings. Kids will have a great time trying out various flavours and getting messy in the kitchen whisking up the pancake batter.
Here are some of our suggestions for pancake toppings:
The normal
- Maple syrup
- Sugar and/or lemon juice
- Nutella/ chocolate sauce
- Banana and honey
The experimental
- Warm marshmallows
- Angel Delight
- Jelly and ice-cream
- Peanut butter and jam
The gourmet
- Goat’s cheese and strawberry jam
- Apple cinnamon syrup
- Blueberry jam and greek yoghurt
- Roasted nuts with soy sauce
The odd (but we’re not judging!)
- Fried chicken
- Different types of curry
- Left over pizza
Pancake Day ideas
Kids can get involved with every aspect of Pancake Day, from the shopping for ingredients to the topping suggestions. As pancakes are easy to make children can help with the whisking and then watch dad flip the pancakes over in the pan. Why not make it a yearly tradition that the whole family get involved in Pancake Day, and rate various toppings out of 10?
You can also add chocolate chips, cinnamon or blueberries to the batter, or make a stack of pancakes and drizzle with maple syrup. The kids can use fruit to make faces on the top of their pancakes, or you can use cutters. The possibilities are endless!
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