Swedish Pancakes

The Johnson family has eaten these for as long as I can remember, and I've posted this recipe before under blueberry-filled crepes. Here it is as a stand-alone.  We eat these like regular pancakes, drizzled with maple syrup, and we also make "jam roll-ups" by (you guessed it) spreading homemade jam over the whole thing and then rolling it up.  It magically becomes finger food when you do this, plus it's delicious.

On my parents' first official date, the one in which he proposed marriage and she accepted, my mom, a bit hesitant, had my dad order her food.  He ordered himself a savory portion of steak and then, thinking that so lovely and petite a creature as my mother surely subsisted on stardust and dew alone, he ordered her strawberry roll-ups-- essentially, jam-filled crepes.  Little did he know that poor, church-mouse Mopsy had been living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and the last thing she'd find appealing were jam-filled crepes.  She choked them down with the aroma of juicy steak wafting across the table, and she married that handsome, well-meaning steak-eater several months later. From then on, if crepes were on the menu, she ordered her own food.

Anyway, the girls re-tell that story just about ever time we eat these for breakfast.  Without further ado, from the Johnson Family Archives, I give you their famous recipe for "Swedish Pancakes," which are similar to French crepes.  You can use a bonafide "Swedish Pancake" pan for these, but we didn't know they existed and always just used a frying pan.

Swedish Pancakes

3 eggs

1 and 1/4 cups milk

3/4 cup flour

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

vanilla extract, if desired

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk (and vanilla, if desired) until well-combined.  In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients, and then add to it the wet ingredients, whisking until smooth.

Into the center of a hot, lightly greased frying pan, pour 1/4 cup pancake batter.  Lift and tilt pan to evenly coat bottom. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer.

* You can add more milk if you want thinner pancakes.

I've never paid attention to the yield, but these pancakes are light and thin, and one's seven eight nine children can eat a lot for breakfast.  I usually make a triple quadruple quintuple batch to stuff the children, with me nibbling a couple on the sly, and it's just about the perfect amount.