This year, pancake day falls on the 4th of March.
Traditionally, Pancake Day, or what is often called Shrove Tuesday in the UK, is the day before Ash Wednesday and signals the start of Lent.
Typically, the word shrove means to confess all your sins and it is often known as pancake day as it was a great way to clear the cupboards before the fast of Lent by using up milk, butter and eggs which are not allowed during Lent.
We’ve all heard of the Mardi Gras carnival. That’s a Shrove Tuesday event, as is the well-known carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
The Christian season of Lent is to prepare for Easter. As a non religious family, it’s always surprising to me to find out the holidays and customs which so often seem tied in to historic Christian practice.
Lent begins around 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays)
During Lent, lots of Christians go through a period of fasting and repentance to have enough time to reflect on Jesus Christ, his suffering and the sacrifice he made.
Although not all Christians follow or stick to Lent, and it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the bible, I do hear people giving up things for Lent. A tweeter gave up Twitter for Lent a couple of years ago which I found a little strange as i thought it was about repenting on sins, and I’ve not thought of Twitter as a sin.
Perhaps it’s very hypocritical of me to enjoy making pancakes for Pancake Day, but like Christmas, it has no religious meaning in our home, and is celebrated just for what it is. A day for making pancakes.
Whatever it means to you, have a lovely day and make lots of great pancakes.
American Pancakes Recipe (Fluffy Pancakes)
Print recipe
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
| Cook time | 10 minutes |
| Total time | 20 minutes |
| Allergy | Milk |
| By author | Adapted from Nigella Lawsons American Breakfast Pancakes |
Ingredients
- 1.5 tablespoons Baking Powder
- 2 Large Eggs
- 30g Soft Butter
- 300ml Semi Skimmed Milk
- 30g Caster Sugar
- 225g Plain Flour
Method
| Step 1. | I just used to mix this all up in a big plastic jug to make it easier to pour into the pan, but I've found that my mixer gives me better results with the batter so I just put up with a few mix trails as I go. I put all the ingredients apart from the flour and baking powder in the bowl and give them a mix around, then I put in the flour and baking powder and use the fold function to add it in. I'm not sure that really makes any difference, but it seemed to. This pancake mix is actually quite thick in comparison to many of the older scotch pancake recipes as the intention is to have a pancake with a bit of a fluffy middle. |
| Step 2. | Heat a thick bottomed frying pan (or any pan) on the hob. I prefer not to use oil to cook my pancakes, but it means I do have to keep a close eye on them. I leave the heat almost at the lowest that it can go and cook them slowly. |
| Step 3. | When you see the top of the dollop of pancake mix beginning to bubble up, then it is time to turn over your pancake to cook the other side, which won't take long at all. Don't leave pancakes alone on the hob as they will burn very quickly. |
| Step 4. | You can get anything from 8 - 18 pancakes from this mix, depending on how big you make your pancakes. |
I am a Catholic, and we do give up things for Lent, as we remember when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without food. It’s not about giving up a sin, but giving up something (usually a vice or a favorite food). Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. Leaving an old way, (the vice), and of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Christ. I hope that makes sense! 🙂 And I for one, am NOT giving up twitter for Lent. LOL It’s not a ‘vice for me. 😉
By the way, I am a new reader to your blog, and I am enjoying it very much. 🙂
Cheers!
The explanation about vice makes much more sense to me than a sin. Glad you’ll be sticking around on Twitter. What’s your Twitter ID? Nice to have you reading. 🙂
Lemonpoptart is my twitter id. 🙂 Ha! We’re already following each other! 😀
How bizarre giving up Twitter for Lent! Will be trying these out tomorrow as the kids don’t always like the thin crepe style ones!
My kids prefer the slightly thicker ones. They just can’t get over the really thin ones we had in England.
My family likes ours a little thicker too. I think they’re tasty with just butter, but am not above using syrup, or even some good jam, and best of all, some blueberries! Have you even put nuts in yours? We make pecan pancakes here and they are so good!
We tend to use mostly just butter. I kid myself that we can get away with some as I don’t use oil for cooking pancakes. I’ve not used nuts, but I did do some with Maltesers today that will hit the blog tomorrow.