Sweet fluffy pancakes (+ three favourite toppings)
I served you pancakes on the weekend, but I also wanted to re-share this recipe with you, just in time for UK pancake day itself, which is tomorrow. (You can actually get ahead and make them today – they hold up really well; you just need to warm them up briefly in a pan).
This is my colleague Verena’s ultimate pancake recipe. They’re fluffy in the American diner way - the kind that stacks impressively, stays soft even when they’ve cooled down, and doesn’t collapse into something sad and deflated while you’re cooking the next batch.
I love serving them with softened butter, whipped together with honey, salt, orange blossom water and pecans. Or just chocolate spread. Or marmalade. Or plain lemon and sugar.
The trick, Verena says, is not stirring the batter between batches. You’ll knock out the bubbles that keep them light. Also patience - let the batter rest, let the milk curdle with the vinegar, resist flipping them too early.
In case you need some extra-sweet topping ideas beyond the usual, I’ve included a couple of below.
Happy Pancake Day.
V’s fluffy pancakes
Makes 24-26
Prep 10 min
Rest 30 min
Cook 30 mins total (2-3 minutes per batch)
Ingredients
325g full fat milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs, plus 1 egg white
70g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
40g caster sugar
¾ tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
50/50 mix of melted butter and vegetable oil, for frying
Method
Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar in a large jug and set aside to curdle for 15 minutes. Add the eggs, egg white, melted butter and vanilla and whisk to combine.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the curdled milk/egg mixture and whisk together until no visible dry bits of flour remain. Don’t overmix–a few lumps and bumps are fine. Set aside to rest and thicken slightly, 10-15 minutes (the mix can sit quite happily for up to an hour - the longer it sits, the thicker the pancakes will be).
Preheat a 26cm non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Once hot, brush with the melted butter and oil mixture. Drop three large spoonfuls of batter into the pan, spacing them evenly apart. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the batter has risen and you can start to see small bubbles on the surface.
Carefully flip the pancakes and cook for another 30–60 seconds, until springy to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and continue with the remaining batter.
Three sweet toppings
Persimmon compote with crème fraîche
Persimmons are a winter fruit in the UK: they need to be ripe and soft to the touch so, if yours are underripe, be patient and wait for them to ripen. Alternatively, make a compote with pears or frozen berries, or buy a jar of ready-made.
Coffee cream and tahini chocolate sauce
This one is from our filled dorayaki recipe. I wouldn’t fill the fluffy pancakes with these - spoon them on top instead, which feels more generous and lets you control how much of each you get in every bite.
Cherry compote
From a kaiserschmarrn recipe. I serve it there with small pancake pieces cooked in sugar and butter, but it would be just as delicious over any pancake. Make it days ahead and it’ll sit in your fridge waiting for exactly this moment.
I made these this morning for Pancake Day here in Canada! Thank you for the recipe.These were the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever made! I had buttermilk on hand so used that instead of curdling whole milk with the vinegar (which normally I have to do in lieu of buttermilk). For caster sugar, the interweb said I could buzz up granulated sugar in my mini food processor to make a finer sugar, I.e. caster sugar, so no problem, and I proceeded with the recipe as instructed. Served the pancakes with maple syrup and sliced bananas. Yummy!
Made these this morning (a day late) but with my two-year-old. Delicious!