Milk pancakes. Galician traditional dessert

How to make milk pancakes . When we talk about pancakes, everyone usually thinks that this Galician dessert is a crêpe, but even if it looks like it is not.

The differences between pancakes and crêpes are minimal but in each area (especially in Northern Spain) they are prepared in a different way. The main difference is that the pancake is made with butter and the pancake is not. In addition, the pancake does not use whole wheat or buckwheat flour.

In Galicia they started making pancakes with broth or water, the quintessential Galician pancake, which they try to recover at the pancake festival in Lestedo. In the time of slaughter, pig blood is usually added, a delicious sweet pancake that I prepared with my grandmother Lucrecia in hundreds. Perhaps one of my favorite pancakes, although not to everyone’s taste.

Today I present you the most common today, either for its simplicity, flavor or for its sweet taste, milk pancakes . You will find it in Galicia depending on the area with other names, freixó or marrucho. In restaurants you will find them accompanied by sugar, honey or more creative, in the form of pancake tarts , filled with cream or in the form of strudel .

It is a dessert that sweetens the after-dinner of any Galician at any time of the year, although Entroido y Matanza is where it finds its culminating moment. They are usually cooked in many ways, in stone, in the pan or with a filloeiro. As the stones and filloeiros are difficult to get, we have chosen to make them in a pan like 99% of the Galicians.

Use a good frying pan where they do not stick because if it is your first time in the world of pancakes it can be a disaster, and I assure you that it is the easiest thing in the world. Follow the recipe with this base cream that is more than tested and they will be the same as my grandmother’s.

Preparation of the sweetheart or cream for the milk pancakes

1. The paste-cream is quite easy to prepare. Pour milk, water, flour, a pinch of salt and eggs into a bowl.
2. Sometimes we can use instead of water and milk, cooked broth for its elaboration. In this recipe you have the most traditional pancakes .
3. Mix everything with the mixer without lumps. Let it rest for an hour so that it finishes thickening although the cream must be loose.
4. At this time the flour will “open”, we should have a thick but easy to handle cream.
5. Once the resting time has passed, we put a non-stick frying pan on the fire and spread it with the pork bacon or sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil.
6. The real ones would be with lean bacon, but not everyone has it at home. It can be done with a few drops of oil, for each pan a few drops.

Preparation of the pancakes. Final presentation

1. Mix the pancake mixture well and add 1 tablespoon of the mixture to the pan, when it is very hot.
2. Depending on the size of the pan, we will add more or less quantity. We should have a thin layer. Rotating the pan we spread the filling over the entire surface and return it to the fire.
3. We keep the pancake on the fire until it is golden on the bottom. We will know this because the edges begin to separate from the pan and bubbles will have formed on its surface.
4. We lift one of the corners and turn the pan. Let it cook for a minute or two on this second side and remove.
5. We must be at all times controlling the temperature of the pan. It should not be excessively hot so that it does not burn, but it must be hot enough to brown it.
6. If the fork is not good you can use the trick of turning the pan with a plate. It is as we usually do with the potato omelette , as you get practice it will no longer be necessary.
7. Before starting with a new pancake, we must smear the pan with the bacon again.
8. We are placing the pancakes on top of each other as we prepare them. We will already have our plate full of pancakes ready to serve with sugar or honey.

We can enjoy them both cold and freshly made as the culmination of a great  Galician stew  and accompanied by a good  homemade coffee liqueur .

A perfect dessert recipe to accompany a pleasant after-dinner with friends or family.

Here you have a step by step in photos where I show how to prepare this recipe for milk pancakes .  Do not miss any detail so that they come out perfect.