Pancake Day is a great excuse to indulge in delicious pancakes for breakfast, dinner and tea. When I was a child, the only way pancakes were served was with lemon juice and sugar, but thankfully things have evolved since then. Although lemon juice and sugar remains a popular choice of topping, there are so many other ways we can enjoy pancakes. Pancakes are versatile, perfect in both sweet and savoury courses. They can be paired with fruits, vegetables, cheese and other ingredients to create some fantastic recipes.
Clarks Maple Syrup have challenged me to come up with some pancake based meals for my family using their maple syrup. I received a pancake day hamper which included a 500ml bottle of the Maple Syrup to use. I was more than happy to join in as we love maple syrup! It's a natural sweetener made from the sap of the Maple tree, with a delicious rich flavour, perfect for pancakes.
When it comes to Pancake Day and the #MaplevLemon debate, maple syrup wins hand down for us. Plus, gram for gram, maple syrup contains 45% less sugar than refined white sugar, making it the healthier option.
Using a basic recipe you can make the perfect pancake and adapt it in lots of ways. I also use the super easy, no weigh American pancake recipe using one cup of SR flour, one cup of milk and one egg beaten together (watch Kizzy making them in this video here!) Pancakes are also very cheap to make, making them a great value option when on a budget.
Here are some of my Pancake Day recipe ideas all featuring Clarks Maple Syrup:
Banana, Blueberry and Maple Pancakes are a perfect breakfast pancake. The American style pancake batter contains mashed banana and blueberries in it, and the topping of soft fruits, walnuts and Clarks Maple Syrup is absolutely delicious. It's a great way to start the day, containing lots of plant based goodness packed with nutrients and antioxidants.
For a fantastic main meal, add some defrosted chopped frozen spinach (squeeze the water out of it once defrosted), garlic granules and black pepper to the batter to make some tasty, savoury, Spinach Pancakes. They can be filled with a Canadian Vegetable Chilli, which is a spicy, Quorn mince and five bean chilli, which has Clarks Maple Syrup added (this mix of spicy and sweet really excites the taste buds!) The stuffed pancake is then topped with Mexicana Cheese and finished off in the oven until the cheese bubbles. Really delicious! You can experiment with different fillings to suit your own personal taste.
For a more traditional dessert pancake, simply serve with maple syrup and butter, but you can jazz up a pancake by making a small batch of coloured batter and piping on detail. You can use a piping bag or even an old tomato sauce bottle to draw on a face or a love heart on the top of the pancake just before flipping. You could even write a message or a name on your pancake.
We made one incorporating strawberries for a bit of fruity fun! Simply squirt over some syrup to serve. They are yummy served with a spoonful of ice cream on the side.
Pancakes really are a lot of fun to make and eat and are just so versatile. My kids love pancakes in all their different guises, sweet, savoury, thick and thin. Plus they can help make them too.
This Pancake Day why not take the #LemonvMaple challenge and maybe make the #MovetoMaple. You can join in with these hashtags on Twitter and follow @Clarks_It for some Pancake Day fun!
Find out more about Clarks at www.clarksit.co.uk.
