I’m not sure if many people actually use a recipe to make pancakes, as the simplest version really only contain three ingredients (four if you add salt). Still I think it is fun to post some inspiration to how to give very basic food a twist and make it into a fun snack. We’ve included a sweet and a savory filling but the possibilities are endless, see more ideas in the recipe tips!
This is a great recipe to make with toddlers or smaller kids, as they like spreading the filling on the pancake and rolling up the strips into snails. I had the feeling that my son was slightly intrigued when I told him that we were making snails, i.e. something that usually doesn’t at all belong in the kitchen. Let your kids help decorate and make their very personal pancake snail and I’m sure they’ll have a blast!
Recipe tips
Other tasty pancake toppings – though maybe less suited for rolling up – include sliced bananas, mixed berries, lime juice, shredded pineapple, chopped nuts, coconut flakes, thinly sliced cheese, strips of thinly sliced salami or shaved turkey, minced meat with herbs, soft-steamed strips of mixed vegetables, or thin slices of salmon.
You can use any kind of milk for this recipe – cow’s milk, almond milk, soy milk etc. – though the taste will vary slightly. If you go traditional and fry your pancakes in butter, keep in mind that butter has a very low smoke point (the temperature where an oil or fat starts breaking down into different components and producing a blue-ish smoke, also marking the beginning of both flavor and nutritional degradation), so make sure to fry on low to medium temperature. If using oil, you could for example use refined coconut oil which has a higher smoke point and an adequate taste for frying pancakes.
Ingredients
75 g (1/2 c) wholemeal flour
1 organic egg
125 ml (1/2 c) milk of your choice
oil or butter for frying
8 small grapes and/or 1 tbsp cream cheese for decoration
Sweet filling
100 g (1/3 c) apple sauce
Savoury filling
75 g (1/4 c) cream cheese
1 tsp sweet chili sauce
Method
1. Mix flour, eggs and milk in a bowl until no lumps remain.
2. Gently heat oil or butter in a non-stick pan on low to medium heat.
3. Pour a small amount of batter in your pan, swerving the pan to spread out the batter. Cook until the top of the pancake is dry and the underside is light golden (1-2 min). Flip and cook until the underside is light golden (about 1 min). Remove, and continue until batter is used up (makes around 4 medium pancakes). Add more butter/oil when needed.
4. For the savory filling, mix cream cheese and sweet chili sauce until combined.
5. Lay out pancakes and cut out 4 long stripes, each around 2.5 cm (1 in) wide. Spread filling onto strips, leaving one end clean (for the snail’s head).
6. Roll up pancakes starting from the covered end, leaving the clean end open.
7. For the eyes, lay halved grapes on the open ends, or fill some plain cream cheese in a small freezer bag, cut off one corner and squirt 2 small blobs on each snail head.
8. You will have some leftover pancake bits (the sides that are too short to roll up) – they make a nice snack as you prepare the snails, or you can cut them up in small stripes and serve them in chicken or vegetable broth.
Preparation: 5 min | Cooking time: 15 min | Servings: 16
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