Recipe Tuesday - Palacinkas

My father is from Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia) and as a child my Oma would make these for us by the dozen. My father has passed on his know how to us. These are easy and simple to make and a fun way to eat breakfast or lunch.

Basically like a crepe, it's the most fun to eat when you have lot's of fruit and other tasty things to roll up in them. Otherwise, the good ol standby of syrup, jam and even just a wee sprinkling of sugar works just as well. Best of all because they are meant to be flat, there is no fussing around with the ingredients etc. Really, really basic. There was never an official recipe but here's what I've broken down.

Ingredients:

• Approx 2 cups of flour
• Aprox 2 cups of milk
• 2 TBS of sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together really well. I make this ingredient by feel rather than precise measurements so start off slowly. The amount of flour determines how many pancakes you get out of it. The milk determines the consistency. You need to have a fairly runny consistency to make these flat pancakes. When the batter is fairly runny test it in a hot frying pan. If the batter rolls smoothly and effortlessly around then it's ready.

Pouring the batter: In a medium fry pan, melt a small pat of butter and spread around the pan. Take aprox 1/4 cup of batter, pour it into the pan and swirl the batter around the pan, using a dipping and swirling motion (pan is held in the air), when the batter has swirled around to cover most of the bottom of the pan place back on heat. Cook for approx 1 minute. If your pan is already hot enough it will cook very quickly, if your pan is still warming up, then it may take longer. you will notice it starting to slightly brown. You do not want your pancakes to brown too much. Flip your pancake and cook on the other side for 1 minute, starting to slightly brown.

When done, slide pancake off onto another plate and set in a warm oven to keep warm.

If you have a non stick pan you can move straight onto the next pancake, if your pan tends to be sticky then please continue to use small amounts of butter. You will find that the butter makes for crispy edges, which I love, but it does not help the waistline.

When you have made all the pancakes, cover with a cloth and place on table. We dish everyone out one pancake at a time, spread small amounts of jam or syrup or a few sprinkles of sugar on the pancakes and roll up into a log, cut and eat.

The sky is really the limit for these types of pancakes, you can add eggs, sausage, peanut butter, nutella, fresh fruit and whipcream. Anything reallly. However, you do it the kids are certain to love it. You can get yourself one of those crepe maker pans and it would work great too but I've always just used a plain old fry pan.

We eat them for breakfast or lunch at least once or twice a month.

*photos borrowed from Ehow and About.Com* I didn't have a chance to take my own photos today.