Crempog With Orange Caramel

Crempog are traditional Welsh pancakes and this wonderful recipe comes with an orange caramel sauce. The only thing of note to remember when making this dish is to remove as much pith from the peeled orange segments as possible, for this use a sharp knife. The orange segments should remain intact, with a good structure, but have very little pith on them so they are pleasantly soft and yielding to eat. The crempog batter can be made up in advance.

Crempog With An Orange Caramel Sauce Recipe

serves 4

Recipe Ingredients:

• 500g flour
• 50g butter (softened)
• 350 ml buttermilk
• 150 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the oranage caramel sauce

• 4 oranges (1 for juice, 3 for segments)
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g unsalted butter
• Good splash of cointreau (or similar orange liqueur)
• 300ml of Vanilla ice cream or Whipped Cream (to serve)
• 2 tsp water

Recipe Method:

For the crempog: Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and using your fingers rub in the softened butter to make ‘breadcrumbs’. Measure out the buttermilk into a jug, then add the normal milk. Gradually stir this into the flour, use a spoon to start, then use a whisk. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and whisk thoroughly to make a smooth, thick batter, add a little extra milk if necessary. Then let the batter stand for an hour covered in the fridge.

After one hour mix in the 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda, and give the whole batter a final whisk. Don’t forget to add the bicarbonate of soda in just before you want to use the batter! When you want to use it the batter will be quite thick, about the consistency of lightly whipped double (thick) cream.

Use an 8 inch or 20cm non-stick frying pan or a traditional Welsh bakestone (planc), and for each pancake (crempog) grease it lightly with a little butter first – carefully wipe the surface over with a little softened butter dabbed onto a piece of kitchen paper, folded over to thicken it, keeping your fingers from the heat. For the first pancakes heat the pan or bakestone until the fat smokes, then turn the heat down a little. Pour about 4 tablespoons of the batter onto the bakestone or frying pan with a ladle. Smooth it out with the bottom of the ladle a little to about 12cm but let it retain a compact, round shape.

Cook the crempog like this on a medium-high heat for about 1 minute, until the batter has just set, become ‘bubbly’, and the edges are turning light brown and crisp. Turn over each crempog carefully with a palette knife of spatula, and cook the other sides for about another minute, until they are golden brown underneath.

Turn them out on to a warm plate. Repeat using all the batter up, and as they stack up keep the plates in a warm oven until you are ready to serve them all at once.

For the orange caramel sauce:

Peel three oranges and then use a sharp knife to remove as much pith as possible and segment the oranges – reserve these for later. Sprinkle the caster sugar into a heavy based non-stick pan and melt the sugar over a moderate heat. Once the sugar has completely melted turn the heat slightly higher and cook to a mid-golden brown – without burning the sugar. Try not to stir too much, just move the pan to and fro.

At this point take off the heat and stir in the butter, to make a caramel. Once the butter has melted add the juice of one freshly squeezed orange (to thin). Put back on the heat and heat through for around 2 minutes. Add the orange slices and the cointreau, and carefully flambé, gently moving the oranges around in the flame. Once the flame subsides, heat through for two minutes and add a splash of water to slightly thin the caramel sauce, (if it needs it) and remove from the heat, stirring to loosen the caramel.

To Serve: serve 2 pancakes per person with some of the orange caramel sauce – and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream, on top – drizzle with the caramel sauce from the pan and serve straight away.