If you’re traveling around Iceland chances are you will stop at a café that sells Icelandic pancakes, or pönnukökur. They are reminiscent of the French crêpes but without all the fancy, swanky fillings. We just want them plain with sugar or cream and jam. No fuzz – just bliss.

My mother makes the best pönnukökur and the other day I managed to persuade her to write the recipe down for me. It was challenge since she always makes them by heart and memory. But here it is – the Icelandic pönnukökur. Just remember to use a proper pan, sort of like the crêpes pans.

Icelandic pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup warm coffee (not piping hot)

3 eggs

1 – 2 tsp vanilla essence

3 – 5 cups whole milk

50 g butter, melted

sugar

whipped cream

jam

Method:

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, coffee, eggs, vanilla essence and 3 cups of milk together. The key here is to whip, whip, whip longer than you think to get the mixture quite tough. Melt the butter on the pancake pan over high heat and mix it with the rest of the mixture. Then mix in 1 – 2 cups of milk. The mixture should be very drippy, yet tough.

Put a little of the mixture on the hot pancake pan and swirl it around. Let it bake for around a minute and then flip it over. Bake for another minute or so and then take off the pan. Immediately put some sugar on the pancake. Then on to the next one. Just remember to keep the pancakes as thin as you can.