Pancakes are delicious: whether they’re stacked and drizzled with butter and syrup, smothered in whipped cream and berries, or simply soaked with lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar, it’s hard to go wrong.
But there’s one grown-up ingredient that might make them even more indulgent and hard to resist: a generous helping of booze.
HuffPost UK has sourced the best, most decadent boozy pancake recipes. Read on for inspiration. Just don’t feed them to the kids.
Gin and tonic pancakes
If you love G&Ts and have a soft spot for pancakes, why not put them together? They are quick and easy to make and guaranteed to leave your dinner party guests going back for seconds. This recipe from Whisk, which we featured on HuffPost UK a few years ago, is a good one to start with. If you’re feeling lazy, you could alway try the M&S gin, lemon and tonic drizzle which is 4% alcoholic.
Ingredients:
Juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime (plus zest for a garnish)
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp gin
200g self-raising flour
1 egg
one 250g gin and tonic can
50ml milk
a knob of butter
Method:
For the boozy sauce, squeeze the lemon and lime juice into a pan, then add the sugar and gin. Boil the mixture for three minutes and set to one side.
To make the pancakes, place the flour in a bowl and add the egg. Then whisk in your can of G+T until smooth. Melt the butter in a pan, spoon in the pancake mixture in individual portions, and fry until the pancakes are a golden brown.
Stack the pancakes and then drizzle over the sauce and the zest to serve.
Galvins’ crêpes suzette
This fancy boozy pancake recipe features the orange liqueur Grand Marnier as the hero ingredient and was developed by the Galvin brothers, Jeff and Chris, who have launched a selection of high-end restaurants. But you needn’t visit one of their swanky establishments to savour their culinary genius – Great British Chefs.
Michelin star chefs specialise in fine French food and run a number of Michelin star restaurants, including Galvin Demoiselle in Harrods and Galvin Brasserie de Luxe in Edinburgh.
But you can add a bit of pizazz to your pancake day without leaving the house, as bit shared the recipe with HuffPost UK, courtesy of Great British Chefs.
Ingredients:
For the crêpe batter
55g of unsalted butter
Two eggs
25g of caster sugar
100g of plain flour
sea salt
350ml of milk
four tsp of vegetable oil
For the orange sauce:
Two oranges
225g of caster sugar
80ml of water
175g of unsalted butter
three tbsp of Grand Marnier
orange liqueur
one orange, peel and pith removed
Method:
To make the crêpe batter, heat a small frying pan and once hot, add the butter and melt over a high heat until it foams. Pour the melted butter into a mixing bowl, add the eggs, sugar, flour and a pinch of sea salt and whisk together to combine. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to make a smooth batter - it should have the consistency of pouring cream.
Then pass the batter through a medium sieve and then leave to stand for at least one hour. Whisk again just before cooking the mixture in a small frying pan over a medium heat until golden.
Pour in just enough batter to coat the base of the pan thinly. Cook for 30–40 seconds, until golden brown underneath, then turn or toss and cook the second side for a further 30 seconds, until golden. You should aim fo three or four crêpes per person. Transfer the crêpe to a warm plate and keep them hot while you make the sauce.
For the sauce, pare the zest off the oranges in strips with a zester, then juice the oranges. Place the zest in a small pan of cold water and bring to the boil, then drain. Repeat this twice. Place the blanched zest back in the pan, add 80g of the sugar and the water and cook gently over a medium heat for 10–15 minutes or until the zest looks translucent and candied.
Heat a wide, shallow, heavy-based pan over a medium heat, then add the butter and allow it to foam before adding the remaining sugar. Sir until it has dissolved and starts to caramelise to a straw-blonde colour – which should take around one to two minutes.
Reduce the heat and carefully add the orange juice and Grand Marnier to the pan. Increase the heat to medium and allow the mixture to bubble for about two minutes to form a sauce, whisking occasionally.
Lay a crêpe in the gently bubbling sauce in the pan, fold in half, then fold in half again to make a triangular shape. Repeat for all the crêpes, arranging them neatly to fit in the pan.
Divide the crêpes between 4 serving plates, overlapping them on each plate. Add the orange segments to the remaining sauce in the pan and quickly warm through before divide the segments between the plates. Then spoon some sauce over each portion, scattering some strips of the candied orange zest over the crêpes to serve. Voilà
Chambord-Infused Pancakes With Chocolate Drizzle
Chambord, a raspberry liquor, is the star ingredient in this boozy pancake recipe.
Ingredients:
50g plain flour
50ml Chambord
75ml whole milk
40g of white chocolate or dark chocolate - whichever you prefer
50ml double cream
100ml measures of Chambord
Method:
Combine the flour, milk and 50ml Chambord together and beat until smooth for the pancake mix and fry them.
And then to make the drizzle, melt the chocolate in a bowl over steaming water, add the double cream gradually and whisk thoroughly and then add the second measure of Chambord.
Whisk it until it’s thick enough to cover the back of a spoon and heap it over the pancakes.
Note: this article was originally published in March 2019.