Pancake Day is on the 16th February this year, and I have been busy making a few different kinds of pancakes for Morrisons. They sent me everything I needed to make and create some pancakes using seasonal ingredients, and to give their customers some new ideas for Pancake Day.

I started with some American style pancakes - light and fluffy, they are the perfect pancake to serve with fruit, and are easy to make for breakfast.

Hot on the heels of the American pancakes were some English style pancakes. Us Brits love our thin, crêpe-like pancakes and these always appear on our table on Shrove Tuesday. We like them served simply, with lemon and sugar - straight from the pan, but you can also serve them with fruit or stuffed with a savory filling for a main course.

♦ ♦ ♦ Pancake Ideas ♦ ♦ ♦

Rhubarb Pancakes
Finely slice 200g of fresh rhubarb and gently fry it in 1 tablespoon unsalted butter. Add 50g of sugar and cook until the rhubarb is soft.
Add some of the cooked rhubarb to the American pancake mixture and stir it in. Make the pancakes and serve with the rest of the cooked rhubarb.




Gingerbread Pancakes with Pears in Butterscotch Sauce
To the American Pancake mixture, add 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and replace the caster sugar with brown sugar.
For the pears, peel and slice 2 pears and saute them in a frying pan with 75g of butter for half a minute or so. Add 225g of soft brown sugar and 140ml of double cream to the pan. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat when the sugar has melted. Serve with the spiced gingerbread pancakes and top with some chopped roasted pecans.




Sunshine Pancakes with Grilled Grapefruit and Brown Sugar
My mum used to make us grilled grapefruit with brown sugar for breakfast when we were little, and this recipe idea is based on that.
Peel and segment a grapefruit, placing the drained segments into a small baking tray that has been lined with non-stick foil. Top the grapefruit with a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar and place under a hot grill for a couple of minutes until the sugar is bubbling. Place the grilled grapefruit onto the pancakes and fold them in half, and half again. Spoon some of the juices over and serve.




Pancake Cups with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce
I saw this nifty idea over at the Food Network site and couldn't resist trying it out. Take one of the British Style Pancakes and fold it in half, then press it into a muffin tray to form a little cup. Bake in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes until slightly crispy around the edges, keep checking to make sure they don't get too brown. Remove from the oven and put a scoop of vanilla ice cream into the cup, then drizzle with caramel sauce.
You can use different flavours of ice cream and sauces, I bet the rhubarb sauce would be good as well.



British Style Pancakes
Adapted from Delia Smith.
I prefer to use an old, well seasoned, heavy cast-iron pan that is used only for pancakes. It's easier to pour the mixture from a jug, rather than ladle it into the pan. That way you can swirl the pan with one hand, while pouring the mixture in with the other, and you get really thin pancakes.
Makes about 10-12 x 8" pancakes.

110g (4 oz) plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 large eggs
275ml (10 fl oz) semi-skimmed milk
50g (2 oz) butter

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs – I use a wire whisk – incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so.

Next, gradually whisk in the milk, don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk. When all the liquid has been added, scrape any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream.

Now melt the butter and spoon 2 tablespoons of it into the batter and whisk it in. Use the rest of the butter to smear on the pan, using a bit of kitchen paper or a silicone brush. I pour the pancake batter into a jug and use that to pour it into the pan, or you could just use a ladle to pour the mixture into the pan.

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. Using either the jug or ladle method, pour the batter into the pan and swirl 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 heat-proof spatula or palette knife – the other side will only need half a minute or so – then simply slide it out of the pan on to a plate.

I like to serve these as I am making them, or you can stack the pancakes on a plate and keep warm until ready to use.

American Style Pancakes
An easy, fast recipe that you can adapt by adding flavourings, spices or a handful of oats if you wish.
Makes about 8 small pancakes.

1 large egg
140ml (5 fl oz) milk
140g (5 oz) plain flour
3 level teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon caster sugar
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Whisk the egg in a large bowl, using a wire whisk. Add the milk followed by the flour, baking powder, sugar, the pinch of salt and whisk everything together. Finally add the melted butter and whisk again.

Heat and brush a non-stick frying pan with butter. Ladle about 2-3 tablespoons of the pancake batter into the pan. When you can see tiny bubbles on the surface of the pancake and the underside is nicely browned, flip the pancake over and cook the other side. Repeat with the remaining batter until all the pancakes have been made.




On the Morrisons website there is a large database of recipes to browse, including recipes for pancakes and healthy eating tips.

From last year, tossing pancakes.

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