Swedish Pancakes recipe from 1755.

Here´s the translation:

Good pancakes.

Take 7 eggs, but leave 3 egg whites, and whisk them with so much flour, as you think it would be enough for thickness. Pour 1 quartern of meltedbutter and a half a hin of fresh milk, but little by little, so it does not go into dumplings. When it becomes well whisked, then make the pancake pan well hot and anoint it only for the first time and then no more and bake the cakes on top of mild fire, so as the way is. The less flour you use, the better it is, and the cakes should be as thin, as ever happens.

The author of this recipe is Cajsa Warg (1703-1769), one of the most well-known cooks in Swedish history. On 1755, she published her cookbook Hjelpreda I Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber  (“Guide to Housekeeping for Young Women”). This book was translated also into Estonian (1781) and this was the first Estonian written cookbook ever (photo shows the recipe in Estonian).

Cajsa worked for several powerful families in Sweden and one of them were the von Stackelbergs. I find the fact most fascinating as my husband´s ancestor was a Stackelberg, too: baron Reinhold von Stackelberg (1819-1878, Estonian branch).

Sooo, I kind of wished to feel the connection with Cajsa the other day and decided to bake her pancakes. Put on my long skirt and grandma´s apron, for the stronger bond.

Tick….bzzbiwzzbi (time travel sounds)…

And I welcome you into the year 1755: a spacious mansion kitchen with large shelves displaying the finest crockery. Silently sparkling copper pots, pans and scoops hanging from the racks. Lots of baskets everywhere. Approaching the centuries old sturdy wooden table, a woman places a pottery bowl on it and starts preparing her batter. Her skillful hands move like dancing in the light beam coming from the window while she cracks, pours and whisks.

How was that little time trip? Exiting, right?

Now, back to present…

I followed the quantities and the method in such a way, as was the teaching. Including the HUGE amount of Melted Butter and 7 eggs. For my part, I added the sugar and salt into the batter.

And the result – I have to admit that I´ve never ever eaten such tasteful pancakes in my life. They were just incredible!

The pancakes! Golden-yellow, light, airy, smooth. If ordinary pancakes are quite greasy, then these cakes had a wonderful fatless texture. The taste reminded me most of a vanilla ice cream.

Served with raspberries and blackcurrants and whipped cream. Divine!

From now on, I won´t bake any other pancakes. Ever.

PS! Please don´t ask me about the calories in this dessert

Swedish Pancakes From 1755

Yield: 4-6 persons          Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 7 eggs (use only 4 egg whites, but all 7 egg yolks)

• flour at your own discretion

• sugar at your own discretion

• salt at your own discretion

• 1 cup melted butter (ca 290 ml)

• 2.5 cups fresh milk (ca 600 ml)

Directions:

You can use the easiest way and just mix everything in a blender.

But if you´re after an authentic experience then do this: take 7 eggs, crack 4 of them into the bowl. For the rest of the eggs, separate the whites and yolks. Add the 3 yolks to the bowl, but set the whites aside (perhaps use them for your morning omelet). So you have 7 egg yolks and 4 whites in the bowl. Whisk the eggs and add a fairly large amount of flour. So that the egg – flour mixture becomes quite thick, because the subsequent milk and melted butter liquids dough enough (if the dough becomes too liquid, then adding flour later causes dumplings, getting rid of which demands hard whisking). Pour the melted butter and milk and whisk well. Add sugar and salt according to your preference. Whisk again. Prepared dough is pleasantly creamy and rather liquid.

As stated in the recipe, the pan must be hot and smeared just once. So I baked completely without fatty substances. You should make the cakes just like the crepes, but bake both sides. Pour some batter on the center of your pan, then tilt it in circles until the batter covers the pan bottom. After one side has turned golden brown, flip the cake over and cook the other side as well. The cakes cook extremely fast.

Abovementioned quantities are enough to bake about 24 medium sized crepes.