Queen Elizabeth II, 95, is known to have a sweet tooth and rarely goes a day without a slice of cake or something sweet to accompany her afternoon tea. The Queen is currently isolating at Windsor Castle with mild coronavirus symptoms, where she will likely be served pancakes by the royal chefs to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. As head of the Church of England, the Queen is a devout Christian and observes the start of Lent every year. In order to celebrate the important religious milestone, the Royal Family has shared its secret pancake recipe with fans. The Royal Family’s official account has previously tweeted a video of how to make the Queen’s favourite pancakes. The Royal Chefs suggested three ways to serve pancakes for Pancake Day: strawberry jam and cream pancakes, classic lemon and sugar pancakes, and savoury ham, leek and cheese pancakes.
Royal pancake recipe
Ingredients
(Makes 10 pancakes)
125g Plain Flour
30g sugar
Pinch of salt
Three medium eggs and one extra yolk
250ml milk
40g butter
The royal chefs’ pancake recipe has a special twist with instructions on how to make ‘beurre noisette’ or ‘nutty butter’ in French.
The added touch is meant to give the pancakes extra flavour and helps keep them moist.
How to make beurre noisette
Place butter in a pan and cook gently until all the water in the butter cooks off and the milk solids will separate to the bottom of the pan and gently golden.
This will spit gently and once they’ve quietened down they will have turned a nutty brown colour.
Set this aside to cool.
DON’T MISS:
Jam and cream pancakes
Whip up some double cream to a spreadable consistency.
Once your pancakes have cooled spread over a layer of your favourite jam, followed by a layer of whipped cream and fold up into quarters.
Garnish with fresh berries.
Ham, Leek and Cheese Pancakes
For savoury pancakes, follow the same recipe but add some fresh chopped herbs before cooking. The royals use chives in their recipe.
To make the cheese sauce, gently heat the milk in a pan, while in a separate pan melt the butter and whisk in the flour.
Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously to avoid lumps.
Cook out for three minutes before removing from heat.
Separate a quarter of this mix and set it aside.
Add most of the cheese to the sauce (leaving some to top the pancakes), along with the ham and leeks.
Season with salt and pepper (can add cayenne for a kick if preferred).
Divide the mix into the pancakes, place in a buttered dish and then cover with the remaining sauce and grated cheese.
Bake at 180 degrees, on the middle shelf for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden in colour, and serve hot.