Pancakes (Palačinke)

There are so many pancake recipes out there sometimes one wouldn’t know which to choose, what to add, and what not to add. So, this blog post is about Balkan pancakes (Palačinke) and the different variations that you can have. I grew up with my mother making pancakes usually for breakfast. She made the simplest yet most delicious pancakes, and we didn’t put anything on them when eating them. Then I moved to the Balkans, and they have pancakes for dessert and not breakfast. Here pancakes are a major dessert. It was a little weird seeing all the stuff added but it gradually started to kind of make sense to add them anyway.

Palacinke, pronounced “pah-lah-cheen-keh” has roots deeply embedded in the Balkan culinary tradition. They are similar to crepes, with basic ingredients like flour, sugar, milk, and eggs, though each region and family usually has their own recipe. In this recipe, there’s an addition of oil and sparkling water. At first, I found it unusual to add sparkling water but I figured it was to aerate the pancakes and give them a light and fluffy texture.

Tips for making perfect pancakes (Palačinke)

• It’s always advisable to let the batter rest for a minimum of 20 minutes.
• If the pancake batter seems lumpy, run it through a sieve to get a smooth batter
• Also, should you feel the batter is not thin enough, add more milk
• You may add melted butter instead of oil. The pancakes have a buttery, beautiful taste.
• Should you wish to add savory filling, you may omit the sugar, though this pancake batter is not so sweet. therefore omitting the sugar is not necessary.
• I always cover the pancakes when making them so they become soft. So I’ll put the baked pancake on a plate and cover it with another plate, and so on until I’m done. If there are water droplets on the cover plate, I just wipe and cover. This results in super soft pancakes.

Palačinke filling suggestions

• Jam
• Chocolate spread with banana and biscuit crumbs
• Jam and walnut crumbs
• Ham and cheese
• Peanut butter and jam … the list is endless