SOUTH AFRICAN BAZAAR PANCAKES

South African Bazaar Pancakes image

First of all: these traditional pancakes are not thick and smallish. They are thin, about the thickness of a plastic school ruler or even thinner! Secondly, they are large -- made in pans of between 7" and 8" in diameter. The "bazaar" in this case comes from the name for the yearly Thanksgiving fÃªtes held by almost all churches across the land: the church bazaar. A "bazaar" is not a "bazaar" without a posse of chunky "aunties" and "uncles" (not relatives!) behind a church hall table, baking masses of pancakes on small paraffin stoves or, these days, more often on small Cadac gas tanks. Although the typical church bazaar has tables with cakes, cupcakes, tarts, pies, knitted goods, bags of sweets and various handcrafts, men and children cannot resist the "pancake table". The pancakes are made with great dexterity and very quickly, sprinkled thickly with cinnamon-sugar, rolled up, and handed to you on a piece of wax paper. Table manners are not important, so you eat the hot crunchy rolls any way you like ... Real comfort food! This pancake recipe is also used for all kinds of savoury fillings. It can be filled and rolled up, or folded into parcels, covered with cheese sauce, and baked. Number of crÃªpes or pancakes will depend on the size of your pan, so that is a guess.

Provided by Zurie

Categories Healthy

Time 45m

Yield 14-18 pancakes

Number Of Ingredients 8

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Ingredients

8 ounces flour (250 g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 pint milk (about 375 ml)
2 tablespoons melted butter (30 ml)
2 tablespoons cognac (or brandy or rum)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon, ground

Steps:

Sift together the flour and salt.
Beat the eggs and whisk in the milk, melted butter and cognac (or whatever hard liquor you choose).
Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until very smooth. If in doubt, pour through a fine sieve.
The batter should be as thin as fresh cream. Leave the batter to stand for 30 minutes to 2 hours. (This is important for the final result).
By the time you use the batter it will have thickened. It can be thinned again by whisking in a little water. (Be careful not to thin it down too much).
Use a bit of butter to make the pancakes. If you have a nonstick pan, use a little butter only for the first pancake, to make sure it won't stick. Butter is also nice for the flavour, but you need very little.
Heat the pan well. For each pancake or crÃªpe, use only enough batter to cover the entire surface of the pan in a thin layer, when you tilt the pan. 3 tablespoons are usually enough, or 2 tablespons for a smaller pan. Keep in mind that they must be thin.
Flip the pancake when the edges start going golden and little bubbles appear on the surface.
Keep a plate handy and repeat the same process, piling the pancakes on the plate. I put pieces of wax or baking paper between pancakes to make it easier to handle afterwards.
Mix the cinnamon with the sugar. For traditional bazaar pancakes, sprinkle each pancake generously with cinnamon-sugar, roll up loosely, and hand out!
* If you're only using it later, cover with wrap when cold to prevent drying out.
* You can use this batter very successfully to make classic CrÃªpes Suzettes, but make the crÃªpes in a smaller pan (4 - 5 " diameter).
* If you like you could add 1 tablespoon superfine (caster) sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the batter when whisking it.
* Can be used with savoury, meat or vegetarian fillings, can be stacked with various fillings between, or filled, rolled, and baked with a cheese sauce.
* The unfilled pancakes freeze very well.