As I take a delicious bite of these creamy, sweet and citrusy pancakes – it whisks me in a swirl of fairy dust straight back to my childhood – especially late Sunday mornings. We were an adventurous family with our culinary safari and considering so many different taste buds in one household ( there was 11 of us living together at one point!! ) , Sunday breakfasts would consist of a typical Indian breakfast of parantha (crispy fried flatbreads ) served with a light potato curry, seasoned yoghurt and steaming mugs of sweet cinnamon and Indian chai.
However, my mother always made sure there was a small side board of ‘English-style’ dishes too! (as many of her generation referred to as Western Continental cooking) Incredible really… this culinary goddess that reigned over our kitchen and dazzled us with love through her endless cooking..
So these stuffed pancakes sat, fat and proud under a light dusting of icing sugar, in their own grand setting on an ornate side cabinet and featured whatever fruit was in season…from apple mango to luscious strawberries, but my all time favourite was a peaches and cream filling. It is not a cliche, this infusion of flavour is ridiculously good! This has to absolutely be made with good quality canned peaches – I have no shame in admitting this – you really need the softness that these impart, sweetly marinated in their own juices…heavenly…
The crepes can be made easily in advance, wrapped in foil and kept aside until just before you would like to serve them. This recipe is not one for dainty pancakes – these are man-size but full of such hidden delight -they will be irresistable to even the most careful of eaters!
For the Crepes :
- 2 cups of plain flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tbs icing sugar
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- Approximately 3/4 – 1 cup milk
- 2 tbs butter for frying the pancakes
For the Peaches and Cream Stuffing
- 2 cups of thick double cream – the best you can get your hands on
- 1 can of tinned peaches ( Keep the brine )
- 2 1/2 heaped tbs of icing sugar
- 4 tbs of sweet brine from the canned peaches
- Icing sugar for dusting over the top.
Start by making the crepes. Simply mix all the ingredients together, whisking until you have a runny consistency, but still with a slight thickness. Heat a small 9 inch pancake pan until hot but not smoking.
Add a tsp of butter, swirling it around to coat the pan. Add 3/4 of a large ladleful of pancake batter into the pan, swirling it around the pan quickly until the batter has evened out. Don’t make thick pancakes – you are aiming for a thin delicate crepe that will be stuffed to the brim!!
Let this sit and cook on a gentle heat until you see little bubbles beginning to form on the surface. This is the first sign that you need to flip it over. Let this cook for a further two minutes or so, before you flip it over once more. Your crepe should be a creamish colour with little golden spots.
Complete all the crepes and set aside, wrapped in foil to keep soft.
Next prepare the cream and peaches stuffing. Simply place the cream in a deep bowl and using an electric hand whisk, beat the cream until you achieve soft peaks. Do not let it get too thick.
At this soft peak stage, add the preseved sweet brine from the peaches and the icing sugar. Whisk once more until the cream is fairly thick.
Slice the peaches into thin slices.
To assemble, simple lay out the pancake on a plate. Place a generous amount of cream ( around 3 tbs ) and spread out on the bottom half of the pancake. Place some peach slices over the cream and gently fold over the top half and fold in the opposite direction again. It may look as if this is not possible and all the cream will pop out, but trust me it works. Like I mentioned earlier, these are big, proper stuffed pancakes which is why you need to keep the crepe very thin.
Place in the fridge until it needs serving, but try to assemble all these just before serving.
Just before you take these to the table, scatter you dish with wedges of peach and strawberries even if you have any. I liked the contrast of the pink rose petals for that very country look.. but any flowers will do. Complete with a generous dusting of some icing sugar and whisk these off for immediate and rapid consumption!!
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