Swedish Pancakes

When I was a senior in high school I went up to my friend's house outside of Burlington Vermont during spring break to go skiing. The skiing was a complete failure. My friend, who had learned to ski at age two, took me up to the top of a mountain and I cried and fell and fell and cried all the way down. In addition to memories of abject humiliation I've never managed to forget the delicious pancakes her mother served us for breakfast before I went out to face my day of cold and snowy torture.

My friend's mom would serve up a little stack of six thin round pancakes - about half-dollar sized (if anyone can remember what half-dollars looked like). These pancakes were more like flat, warm custards than any traditional pancakes that I'd ever tasted. Each piping hot minature stack was served up with warm Vermont maple syrup and in my golden memory we could have as many stacks as we could eat before we were sent out to face the day.

I've often thought of those pancakes over the years and wondered what the secret was to making them. I'm happy to report that after all of these years I have the recipe in my hands and the pancakes really are as wonderful as I remember. The reason they tasted custard like is that they are mostly eggs and milk with just the smallest amount of flour to help them hold together. I use a regular 12-inch non-stick frying pan to make these, but if appearances really matter at your house you may want to invest in a swedish pancake pan to ensure uniformly round cakes. I can fit about six tablespoon sized pancakes in one batch. One key point to make here: the pan has to be hot enough so that the pancakes don't spread out too much, but not so hot that they burn. Even with a carefully calibrated frying pan the pancakes were irregularly shaped, but everyone was so busy eating them they didn't seem to notice what they looked like.

Make sure you heat up the maple syrup too in a small pitcher - 30 seconds in the microwave should do it. Warm syrup makes all the difference.

If you prefer, mix these pancakes up in a blender - it is a little less fussy and comes out just as well.

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Swedish Pancakes
adapted from The New York Times Cook Book by Craig Claiborne

1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3 cups milk

clarified butter for brushing the pan

warmed maple syrup for serving (or lingonberry jam if prefered)


1. Beat the eggs lightly until a uniform yellow and then add the milk and beat to combine.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour, sugar and salt and mix thoroughly with a wire whisk to combine.

3. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and beat until smooth. If you can't get all the lumps out by beating you can pour the whole batter through a sieve.

4. If you have time, let the batter sit for 2 hours before cooking this allows the flour to expand and thicken the batter a little. If you don't have time don't worry it will still work.

5. Heat a non-stick skillet or a Swedish Pancake Pan over medium-high heat and brush with clarified butter. Pour one Tablespoon of batter at a time. Turn each pancake over once and then stack them on a plate and serve immediately.

Makes enough pancakes for 5-10 people