Easy Pancake Recipes for Students

Shrove Tuesday is on the 5^th of March this year, and we thought you might want to try making a few of these traditional crepes. You could get all the roommates together and have a party, with a flipping competition thrown in for fun. Here are a few of our tried and tested recipes for Regular, Gluten free, Dairy free, Nut free, and Vegan versions.

Regular Pancakes

These are basically a Yorkshire pudding mix, and as you are in Yorkshire, you kind of need to know this stuff! Oh! and they are Nut-free too.

Ingredients

100g plain flour

2 large eggs

300ml milk

Pinch of salt

Method

Put the plain flour, eggs, milk, and the pinch of salt into a bowl, or use a jug. Whisk the mixture to a smooth batter. Let it sit for 30 mins to rest, this produces the best batter. Place a medium frying pan over medium heat. Drizzle a little oil in the pan and swirl to coat. When the pan is hot, pour the mixture into the pan and swirl around until it coats the bottom. Cook your pancakes for around 1 min on one side. Then flip it over with a spatula and cook the other side for about 1 min again. The pancake should be a light golden-brown colour. You can keep them warm in a low oven. If you make too many, or you want to eat them another day then you can layer the pancakes between baking parchment, wrap in cling film and freeze for up to 2 months.

Gluten Free Pancakes

It is not much fun being gluten intolerant at the best of times, but pancakes are usually full of gluten and so off the menu. I got this recipe from a friend who was trying the Ketogenic diet and as they shy away from carbohydrates, they do not eat flour, so their recipe was also Gluten free.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (2oz/57g) coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 eggs

1/4 cup (2floz/57ml) coconut oil, or butter, melted

3/4 cup (6floz/170ml) coconut milk, or another non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Method

Mix the coconut flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, oil, and coconut milk. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ones and whisk until you get a smooth batter. Let the batter sit to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes, this will allow the coconut flour to absorb all the liquid. Heat a medium non-stick pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, grease with a little bit of the butter or coconut oil, pour a little of the batter into the pan, swirling it around to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on the first side. You will know when the pancake is ready to flip as there will be tiny bubbles all over and the edges of the crepe will be golden brown. Using a spatula, loosen the pancake from the pan then gently flip over. These pancakes are not as suited to flipping as traditional ingredients. Cook on the second side for about 1-2 minutes. Slide the pancake from the pan and place on a large plate. You can cover and store the pancakes in a fridge for up to 2 days. They will reheat nicely in a pan over low heat or in the microwave.

Vegan Pancakes

These are a little thinner than I usually make pancakes, however, as they are Dairy free and Vegan, so I get bonus points from my vegan friends.

Ingredients

220g of plain flour

680ml of almond milk

1/2 tsp salt

5 tbsp of vegetable oil

Method

Place the flour and salt to a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Gradually pour in the almond milk, whisking as you go until you get a smooth batter. Then add the oil and whisk until smooth and fully combined.  Drizzle a tiny dash of oil in a non-stick pan and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add a coating of the batter to the bottom and swirl the pan so it spreads out to cover the bottom. Cook for a few minutes as the batter firms up, you will see the kind of wobbly softness go, slide a spatula under an edge to see how it is coming along underneath. Once it is a  light golden brown on the underside, flip it over. Cook the second side until the underside is also light golden brown. Do watch closely as I  found that this side burnt more easily than the first side. Move onto a plate and keep warm while you cook the rest.

Filling your pancakes

Traditional pancakes have sugar and lemon juice sprinkled on and folded. Though the list of fillings is exhaustive. I have a few suggestions you might want to try:

 My Mother does cheese, ham and asparagus pancakes, she rolls them up and pops them in the oven with some grated cheese on top.

My personal favourite is strawberries, cream, honey, Ginger jam, banana, and Nutella.

My little brother has ice-cream, tinned fruit cocktail, cream, and rainbow sprinkles! He calls it 'trifle pancake' and he is only 7 years old.

What is your favourite filling? Let us know and I will try them out.