The best Danish pancakes
Pancake day – white Tuesday – holiday – or an ordinary Sunday.
There is always a reason to make pancakes.
Here’s the recipe for the best Danish pancakes – the classic kind you roll.
They are super thin, taste good on their own – and with sugar and lemon juice.
Go straight to the recipe.
Du finder den danske version her.
Pancake with variations
I’ve made this recipe so you can change it according to mood and season.
You can use buttermilk, orange juice or lemon juice and milk.
Wheat flour alone or mixed with wholemeal flour.
And you can change the spices as well.
It started as a classic pancake recipe with vanilla and cardamom (which you can omit).
Organic oranges and/or lemons has been added – both in the form of juice and zest.
If you prefer a classic pancake without citrus, use buttermilk.
Choose whether your pancakes should be made from wheat flour or a combination of wheat flour and wholemeal flour.
If you bake pancakes in the summer, use organic lemon juice and lemon zest.
Whenever there are plenty of cheap organic oranges, you should use them
– and use a larger amount of orange juice than you would use lemon juice.
If you can’t find organic citrus fruits, use only the juice – you don’t want pesticides from the zest in your pancakes.
How to cook?
The classic Danish thin pancakes are the ones I grew up with.
In my childhood, the pancakes had brown dots.
They were so thin and could easily be rolled around the chosen filling – usually jam and sugar.
Christian (my son) grew up with a mixture of the thin Danish pancakes and the thick American pancakes.
The thick American pancakes are brown on the entire surface.
So, when we fry them, we hardly use butter on the nonstick pan.
When you bake the thin pancakes, you should use butter on the pan after every second or third pancake
– if you want the brown dotted pancakes.
The pancakes in my photos are a mix of the two ways of frying pancakes – with and without butter.
Because it is hyggeligt (Danish word – here “super nice”) to bake pancakes together with your child
– no matter the pancake preference.
What do you want to serve with the pancakes?
I like classic pancakes with sugar and lemon juice.
Maple syrup tastes really good – try it with freshly squeezed orange juice.
In some of the pictures, the pancakes are served with homemade rosehip jam.
We also use homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam, and other types of homemade jam and fruit compote.
Homemade jam or fruit compote tastes really good in a classic pancake
– and so does a good store-bought jam or marmalade.
What do you eat on thin pancakes?
Dessert pancakes
If you serve your pancakes for dessert, use GOOD ice cream or sorbet.
Picture a freshly baked pancake – with homemade vanilla ice cream and a good chocolate sauce…
– or with raspberry sorbet and roasted almond flakes …
To make a Danish dessert pancake you can use your favourite ice cream, sorbet, or custard.
Along with any fresh fruit, compote, or jam.
And top it all with a chocolate ganache and roasted nut flakes.
In the summer fill the pancake with a fruit salad made with different fruit and berries
– and drizzle a little maple syrup over.
Perfect for breakfast and dessert.
How to make
The best Danish pancakes
Equipment
- Hand mixer
- 1-2 frying pans Ø26-28 cm (10-11 in)
Ingredients
Dry
- 250 g wheat flour or 170g wheat flour + 80g wholemeal flour
- 100 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla bean
- ¼ tsp cardamom can be omitted
- 2-3 tsp finely chopped zest from organic oranges and/or lemons
Wet
- 8 eggs m/l
- 75 g orange juice, buttermilk, or a combination lemon juice, * MAX 50g (0.21 U.S. Cups) lemon juice – see note
- 250 g milk **
After a rest period of 30-60 minutes
- 80 g melted butter
- 150-160 g milk
Extra
- Butter for frying
Pancake filling
- Sugar
- Lemon juice
- Jam or compote
- Ice cream and/or sorbet
- Fruit and/or berries
Instructions
Dry
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl, mix.
- Make a hole in the middle of the flour.
Wet
- Stir in the first 3-4 eggs one at a time – using a spoon.Stir in the middle, so you add the dry a little at a time to avoid lumps in the pancake batter.
- Put the last eggs in at the same time – still in the middle of the bowl.Continue with a hand mixer, turn your bowl, still adding the dry a little at a time.
- When you have a uniform batter, whip in lemon juice/orange juice.Then add the first part of milk, whisk it all together.
Rest time
- Leave the batter covered for 30-60 minutes in the fridge.
- Melt the butter in one of the two frying pans.
- Pour the butter into the pancake batter while whisking, add the second part of milk.
Bake classic thin pancakes
- Take just under 1dl (0.42 US cups) batter per pancake, or find a spoon with a suitable size, so you get the same size pancakes.
- Fry the pancakes over medium heat, turning them when they are golden brown at the edge.If the pancakes turn brown and stiff, add a little butter. You want classic light brown pancakes with brown spots.
- Place the pancakes on a large plate while you bake the rest.If you only use one pan – or want to reheat the pancakes later, you can put the plate in the oven, use low heat, and cover the pancakes with tinfoil.
Serving
- Serve The best Danish pancakes with optional filling.
Notes
You can supplement with 25g (0.11 U.S. Cups) of orange juice, buttermilk, or plain milk. ** Use 225g (0.95 U.S. Cups) milk if you have used 100g (0.42 U.S. Cups) orange juice. * You can use up to 100g (0.42 U.S. Cups) of orange juice, and then you need to reduce the amount of milk. Use no more than 50g (0.21 U.S. Cups) of lemon juice. You can supplement with 25g (0.11 U.S. Cups) of orange juice, buttermilk, or plain milk. ** Use 225g (0.95 U.S. Cups) milk if you have used 100g (0.42 U.S. Cups) orange juice.
Try a classic Danish pancake with sugar and a little lemon juice. Serve the pancakes with a homemade jam, e.g., rosehip jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam, or compote. Instead of sugar, you can use maple syrup, homemade syrup, icing sugar, flavoured sugar… Fresh berries go well with ice cream – and pancakes.
I made this recipe in grams and used the plugin to translate it into U.S. cups – if it doesn't work – don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.
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