Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

Today is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which marks the start of Lent. I've always associated Shrove Tuesday with pancakes, and thanks to trusty Wikipedia I learnt that this was because pancakes contain ingredients such as fat, sugar and eggs which are traditionally not included in the fasting season of Lent. So Shrove Tuesday was considered the last day to enjoy these foods before engaging in 4 weeks of a restricted diet. Any excuse to eat pancakes, I say!

These pancakes were made using my favourite pancake recipe from Donna Hay. The recipe uses buttermilk which produces a deliciously light, fluffy pancake - if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with normal milk and lemon juice. And since we have so many gorgeous summer fruits available at the moment, I decided to top my pancakes with some mango pieces, whipped cream and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Pancakes

from Modern Classics 2 by Donna Hay

2 cups plain flour, sifted
3 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cups buttermilk (or substitute with 3/4 cups milk and 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice)
75g butter, melted

1. Place the flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Place the egg, milk, buttermilk and butter in a separate bowl and whisk until combined. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

2. Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Pour 1/3 cup of the mixture at a time into the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pancake and cook for 1 minute or until golden. Keep the pancakes warm while cooking the remaining mixture.

3. Serve in small stacks with maple syrup, lemon and sugar, butter or fresh fruit. Makes 15.