CANDLEMAS. On February 2, 2022, it’s time for the pancake party! Are you looking for a pancake batter recipe that is simple, quick and tasty? Or, on the contrary, the original pancakes like Suzette, Kaiserschmarrn or apple pancake with Calvados tempt you?
[Mis à jour le 31 janvier 2022 à 11h52] Wednesday, February 2 will be celebrated Candlemas. For food lovers, this is undeniably one of the dates on the calendar to check off! Candlemas animates the beginning of February when the long evenings of the end of winter can begin to wear out the organisms. Nothing better than a good “pancake party” to heal morale. Here’s something to fight the blues more easily in these times of Covid!
Do you know what this Candlemas festival corresponds to? In the Christian tradition, it marks the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. But its name, Chandeleur, comes from further afield. It refers to the name “candela” in Latin and refers to the return of light. Indeed, pancakes, if they are especially good, represent the sun and the longer days ahead. If you want to celebrate Candlemas as it should be, discover our super-simple and delicious crepe recipe, but also more original recipes, in their regional versions.
First, here is a easy pancake recipe to make, then find the classic pancake recipe below. To make the simplest pancakes, the recipe is well known :
“Simple as pancakes”
- Classic recipe – Ingredients for 4 persons : 250 grams of flour, 0.5 liters of milk, 50 grams of melted butter, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 pinch of salt.
- Preperation : First, put some flour in a salad bowl. Add next sugar, eggs and melted butter. Then beat everything, pouring milk little by little: you will thus obtain a fluid and smooth batter. It should then be let rest the dough at room temperature for one to two hours. An ultra-important phase, which should not be avoided.
- Cooking : After the preparation and the waiting time, you can pour the batter onto a heated pan. Don’t forget to spread oil on the pan between each crepe using a paper towel. Without this, it will be impossible to blow it up, as required by the tradition of Candlemas. To make it fly well, first loosen it slightly with a spatula, then shake the pan to make sure that the pancake is well unstuck. Next, a dry and firm blow of the wrist should give the expected result!
- Accompaniement : Depending on taste, the accompaniment varies: sugar, chocolate, salted butter, honey, caramel, jam, chestnut cream, lemon, fruit… In short, the pancake filling is endless. And there are also regional particularities: calvados and apples in Normandy, beer in the dough in Alsace…
- Want a little more originality? The Crepe suzette is a traditional crêpe flambée recipe for purists. She mixes orange zest, butter, sugar cubes, orange juice with a cup of Grand Marnier. With the remaining Grand Marnier, it is traditional to flambé the pancakes in front of the amazed guests. Discover the recipe for Grand Marnier crepe or the simple recipe Crepe suzette.
- Want even more originality? Favorite pancake recipe of Franz Joseph II and Empress Sissi, the Austrian specialty of kaiserschmarrn is a real delight for those who usually miss their pancakes! This is a pancake batter lightened by beaten egg whites, which are cut into large irregular pieces, very easy to make. Decorated with raisins soaked or not in rum, it can be accompanied by plum compote or plums. Discover the recipe.
- The crepe cake recipe is the result of a dozen pancakes stacked in multiple floors. Then, it’s up to you to decorate it with the ingredients you prefer. The pancake cake can be dark chocolate, nutella, lemon cream, strawberry coulis, caramel, and even in its salty version, with hard-boiled eggs and tuna, salmon or crab/avocado! Discover all the variations of the crepe cake recipe.
- Matcha tea crepe cake : the crepe cake is even available in a matcha version, a recipe found in the Restaurant Joya, the address of Hélène Darroze located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. The matcha tea crepe recipe, easy, requires half a liter of milk, 200 grams of flour, 50 grams of cornstarch, three eggs, 80 grams of sugar, a tablespoon of matcha tea, a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt.
At the beginning of the 21st century, most French people perpetuated this gastronomic rite, with regional particularities that have become more evident in recent decades: Calvados and apples in Normandy, beer in the dough in Alsace and in the North, Froment flour in Brittany, etc Find all our suggestions for fillings below, with the recipes that accompany them when it can be more complex than a simple addition of jam:
Depending on taste, the ingredients vary: banana and chocolate, salted butter, Orange Blossom, honey, apple and caramel, Chestnut cream, apple and Val de Rance cider, jam, beer, lemon, fruit, maple syrup, candies or simply with a little sugar.
Christianity appropriated the date of February 2, at least from the fourth century, before the event was formalized by Pope Gelasius. On this day, Christians celebrate the presentation of Christ in the Temple, 40 days after Christmas, the day of his appearance in the world. During the presentation of the son of Mary, Symeon would have recognized the “divine nature” of Jesus. It is this sacred fact that will give Christians the meaning of Candlemas, where the light brought to the Earth will be celebrated. Believers will then develop the use of lighting candles. Hence the name of Candlemas, which comes from the Latin “Festa candelarum”, “feast of candles“.
Appearing in the 5th century, Candlemas is not at all specific to Brittany. The pope in office at the time, Gelasius, wanted to reward with pancakes the pilgrims who came to Rome to celebrate the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The choice of pancakes is not trivial. They represent, by their round shape, the Sun and abundance. At that time, pancakes are prepared with flour that dates from last year.
The tradition, forgotten today, goes even further. She wants pancakes to be sautéed while holding the pan in the right hand and a gold coin in the other hand. In France, tradition dictates that this coin is a gold Louis. A sign of prosperity for the coming year. This tradition is not only followed in France. It is also respected in Belgium, French-speaking Switzerland and Luxembourg. Candlemas is also celebrated in Mexico, but in a different form than in Europe.
Mexicans gather around tamales, a kind of pancake with South American sauce. The feast resembles that of the Magi, since during Candlemas in Mexico, a cake of kings is eaten, in which is hidden a bean representing the child Jesus. Whoever pulls the bean is responsible for preparing the tamales. This practice was exported by Mexican communities that settled all over the world. It is part of the intangible cultural heritage in France.
In Luxembourg, pancakes are not the only stars of Candlemas. As expected as in France by schoolchildren, Candlemas overlaps somewhat with Halloween in the country. The children, armed with colored lanterns, called Liichtebengelcher and generally made in class, roam the streets in search of a few coins or sweets. In the United States and Canada, Candlemas has given way to “Groundhog Day”, which consists of patiently waiting for a groundhog to come out of its burrow. Like a prediction, depending on the movements of the animal, we could thus know if the winter will be long.