Happy Pancake Day everyone!
Today is one of my favourite days of the year, on the food calendar at least. I can’t quite put my finger on why exactly. It’s probably something to do with the fact that pancakes are so delicious and can be either sweet or savoury which means that you can eat them for main and dessert, or even every single meal for an entire day.
I may do that next year.
But back to today . . .
Poffertjes were a constant in my childhood. If you have been around these parts for a while then you will know (or at least seen me mention) that during the age of 8 – 18 I spent a huge amount of time in Holland. Almost every day out – or even a shopping trip – wasn’t complete without a plate of poffertjes, either from a little stand or in a cafe.
These small, fluffy, domed delicacies are starting to make an appearance here in the UK when Christmas markets grace the streets of every major town and city, so there is a chance that you may have seen them.
The domed shape comes from being cooked in a poffertjes pan, one of which my mum used to have but in one house move or another it was misplaced. However a normal non-stick frying pan (or crepe pan) will do the job perfectly well. Albeit without the giving you the traditional shape.
Traditionally made with a mixture of buckwheat and wheat flour, I have adapted a recipe and replaced the wheat flour in order to make them gluten-free. Which I am very happy about because poffertjes are one of my most favourite foods (along with about 20 million others that I have declared on here at one time or another. I am nothing if not over-exuberant in my declarations).
There was some debate over yeast versus baking powder / baking soda versions. We have bought boxed poffertjes mix and it has been the latter, whereas this recipe is the former. I like this yeasted version as I think it gives them a little bit more flavour.
Poffertjes must be served piping hot, ideally straight from the pan but a nuking in a microwave will do if needs must, and as I am a poffertjes purist; mine must be eaten the traditional way with a generous dusting of powdered sugar and a good dollop of butter, which melts all over the poffertjes and combines with the sugar to make a little plate of poffertjes heaven. But a certain sibling of mine happily smothers hers with Nutella. The choice is yours.
PS – judging by the number of red lines all over the screen as I type, I have used the word poffertjes a lot. I don’t care, it is a cool word to write. And in case you were wondering it is pronounced ‘poff-er-tai’, although I am sure Kate will correct me if I am slightly out with that (poff-er-tai, poff-er-tea . . .), I made these for her also but as she is in Australia I will send her a virtual plateful!
Poffertjes {small Dutch pancakes}
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp fast action dried yeast
- 1 tbsp milk
- 100g buckwheat flour
- 75g rice flour
- 25g sorghum flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 250ml milk, slightly warmed
Method:
- Dissolve the yeast in the tablespoon of milk, mixing until it forms a paste. Set aside
- In a medium-sized bowl mix together the flours, eggs, sugar and salt. Add the yeast and then gradually add the warmed milk, whisking well in between each addition.
- Cover the bowl with cling-film and leave for an hour.
- Heat a flat frying pan or crepe pan over a medium-low heat. Brush with a little butter or oil and drop in spoonfuls of the batter (I found 1/2 a tablespoon of batter to be the right size). Wait until the batter starts to lose its glossy shine and the bottom has just browned and then flip over. Once the second side has browned, remove from the pan.
- Serve immediately or place on a cooling rack and reheat later. Store any leftover poffertjes in an air-tight container in the fridge for a couple of days.
Recipe adapted from About Dutch Food.
© The Pink Rose Bakery 2015
These are my all time favourite, discovered them in Belgium and I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know how to pronounce them and now you’ve made them gluten free. I actually think I love you for this! Will be making these soon!
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Ha! I love them too so I just had to make a gluten free version!! 🙂
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These are adorable! They look so good with all that melting butter – yum! x
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I WAS wondering how to pronounce pofferjes, thank you! I’ve eaten far too many pancakes already today, so maybe next year…
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There is no such thing as too many pancakes! 🙂
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PS: you can get poffertje pans here, and I’d send you one, but as they’re made of cast iron, the postage would be iniquitous.
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Hmm, yep, I think the postage would be a little restrictive! I can get one on Amazon, not cast iron mind you!
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You’ll just have to jump on Easyjet to Amsterdam and go shopping….
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You say Pofferchers, with the accent on Pof… Yes please, make mine a big one. Butter, icing sugar AND a shake of cinnamon!
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Well, I may have missed out the t but at least I do put the emphasis in the right place!
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Of course! You knew the sound, just slightly misplaced a letter. Your post put us both in the mood and it was pannekoeken met speck en stroop for breakie yesterday. Of course, I had to have at least one with Nutella on it…
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Those look great and pretty cute too. Good to see something different from the usual pancake recipes!
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