I made Mary Berry's 'delicious' zesty Scotch pancakes (2024)

Express makes pancakes using Mary Berry's recipe

Pancake Day, taking place on February 21, was used as an opportunity for people to use up all of the spare ingredients in their cupboards before the fasting period commenced - including milk, flour and eggs.

But if you're looking to get creative with your toppings this year, Mary Berry's Scotch pancakes are the perfect base for everything from eggs and bacon to sweet sauces and fruit.

Whether you like thin crepes or thick, American pancakes, Mary Berry's drop scones are the perfect mix of both for Shrove Tuesday.

The smaller, fluffy pancakes can be topped with sweet or savoury foods and you need just a handful of basic ingredients to make them.

I followed the easy recipe myself and they were perfectly fluffy inside with a zesty tang from the orange. Here's how to make them yourself.

READ MORE: I tried Mary Berry’s ‘foolproof’ Yorkshire pudding recipe

(Image: BBC/ RUMPUS MEDIA/PHOEBE CORNISH)

Ingredients

• 175g self-raising flour
• One teaspoon of baking powder
• 40g caster sugar
• One small orange, zest only
• One free-range egg
• 200ml/7fl oz milk
• Butter or sunflower oil, for greasing

While Mary recommended serving the Scotch pancakes with butter, maple syrup or honey alongside fresh berries and Greek yoghurt, I used maple syrup, blueberries and a slice of orange. Demonstrating the recipe in her BBC programme Classic Mary Berry, she said: "They're absolutely delicious and very simple to make."

Similar to thin, crepe pancakes, this Scotch-style batter needs to be silky smooth for the best results. To achieve this, you should mix the dry ingredients together before adding the liquids into a large mixing bowl.

Add the flour, sugar, and baking powder and stir until combined. If you're topping your pancakes with sweet ingredients, add the orange zest in at this point too, or leave it out if you prefer savoury flavours.

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The pancakes are easy to make in less than 30 minutes (Image: PHOEBE CORNISH)

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg, followed by half of the milk. Beat well with a whisk to form a smooth, thick batter.

Mary noted that you should beat in enough of the milk to make a batter the consistency of thick pouring cream, so you may not need to use all of it.

Once the batter is done, prepare a large non-stick frying pan by greasing it with butter and leaving it on the hob to heat up.

Allow the oil to spread and coat the pan before dropping the mixture in small quantities to form small pancakes. Roughly one dessert spoon's worth of batter should be enough per pancake.

Take care to space the mixture well apart to allow for them to spread. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn the scones over with a palette knife or spatula.

Cook them on the other side for a further 30 seconds to one minute, or until they are lightly golden brown.

Blueberries and maples syrup were my go-to toppings (Image: PHOEBE CORNISH)

When they look done, you should lift the pancakes onto a wire rack to cool them before covering them with a clean tea towel to keep them soft and warm. I kept mine on a plate in a warm oven before serving instead.

While one batch cools, spoon some more batter into the pan and cook them in the same way as before. You may need to add a drop more oil to the pan beforehand if the non-stick is damaged.

Once all the batter has been cooked, serve the pancakes at once while still warm. Either stack them up and pour over maple syrup, yoghurt and fresh seasonal berries or spread them out on your plate and top them with scrambled eggs.

The results were perfectly fluffy and golden pancakes with a zesty tang from the orange, though some of them did struggle to rise. If you try this at home, I'd recommend making sure your pan is on a low setting with plenty of butter and making larger pancakes to avoid burning. Another tip I found was that adding more milk results in a fluffier consistency rather than a doughy texture, so don't be afraid to use the full 200ml.

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