It's Liqueur Pancake Day!

The time has come again for the annual tossing of all the cupboard leftovers, as pancake day hits kitchens across the land.

We don’t know about you, but at this time of year, we always have a few odds and ends of liqueur milling about in the fridge and we use them to great effect in our annual crepe fest!

French Crepes, fluffy American buttermilk or Australian pikelets. All variations on the delicious and versatile pancake and all of which lend themselves to a drizzle, a dash or a good solid glug of sweet and fruity liqueur. Here are some of our favourite ways to experiment and if you have any more to add we would love to hear from you.

SLOE GIN PANCAKES

Make your pancakes as per your favourite recipe, but before you pour into the pan, slosh in and mix through 2 tablespoons of Sloe Gin. Not only does this make them super fruity, but they turn a beautifully mild purple colour!

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES WITH ORANGE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE

This one is for the serious chocoholics amongst us and yes we do put ourselves in that category!

The Pancakes

Combine 125 grams of plain flour with 40 grams of cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons of icing sugar, ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt. In a separate bowl combine 1 egg with half a pint of milk and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together and cook and toss in a frying pan as with normal pancakes.

THE SAUCE

In a microwave, melt 60g of butter with 30g of dark chocolate and add to a saucepan. Add 60g of cocoa powder, 120g of caster sugar 120ml whipping cream, and a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Take off the hear and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a generous slug of Blood Orange Liqueur (about 1-2 tablespoons). Stir through and drizzle over the pancakes.

SWEET STRAWBERRY PANCAKES

This sauce definitely works best with really thick pancakes and perhaps even sweet waffles. It does come with a warning though – only try this one if you have a very sweet tooth!

Puree a punnet of strawberries (450g) and put into a pan with 6 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Bring to the boil and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes, skimming of any foam with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat down and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add a decent glug of wild strawberry liqueur (and a tablespoon). Stir through and drizzle away.

DOUBLE ORANGE PANCAKES

When we first started using liqueurs with our pancakes, we used to make a sweet and sticky orange sauce with our Blood Orange Liqueur, lemon juice and lemon zest to drizzle over our pancakes.

Now whilst this is still delicious we also love an idea from one of our customers who makes a mixture of 1 part caster sugar, 3 parts butter, a good slug of about 3 tablespoons of our liqueur and the zest of half an orange. She spreads this on the inside of warm pancakes before baking them for about 10 minutes and then drizzling with the Orange Liqueur sauce, adding a sprig of mint and a dollop of her favourite vanilla ice cream.