Remembering Queen Elizabeth! Making her pancake recipe

One day after the last Green News Guide article was written, Queen Elizabeth II passed away peacefully on September the 8^th.  I always thought that the Queen would live past the age of 100 like her mother.  The Queen had been visibly getting more frail since the death of her husband. Even though we all know she was up there in age, it comes as a shock because she was just seen appointing the new Prime Minister Liz Truss two days prior.  It goes to show that nothing lasts forever  and what’s here today can be gone tomorrow.  

 

Queen Elizabeth II was blessed to have the longest reign of all monarchs past and present. Yes, there were some negatives that happened as a result of the early British Empire but it’s important to focus on the positive especially considering that history cannot be changed.  If we can remember or learn anything from the queen, it should be her steadfast loyalty. The Queen was an exemplary model of real loyalty and faithfulness, characteristic which are truly hard to come by in this life. The Queen was loyal to her country and to the things that mattered to her: service and duty.  When she made that loyal royal pledge on her 21^stbirthday in 1947 and said, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong”she really meant it.  

 

I thought how I could pay a small tribute to a person that I love to gab about so much and whose characteristics I’ve admired through the years and then I came across a newly resurfaced pancake recipe that she gave to President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960.  The recipe was included in a letter that she wrote to the current President at the time. In the letter, she wrote:

 

“Seeing a picture of you in today’s newspaper standing in front of a barbecue grilling quail reminded me that I had never sent you the recipe of the drop scones which I promised you at Balmoral.  I now hasten to do so and I hope you will find them successful.”  

 

If you know me, then you know that my favorite breakfast food is pancakes. You can’t believe how hype I was to learn that the Queen thoroughly enjoyed making my favorite breakfast food and even more so that she had a recipe of her own. The recipe is for a thicker version of pancakes called “drop scones” however, I still managed to make them like a pancake. Simply add a little more milk.

 

Here’s Queen Elizabeth’s recipe:

 4 teacups flour

4 tablespoons caster sugar

2 teacups milk 

2 whole eggs

2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda

3 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons melted butter

The next steps are rather quick and cooks are instructed to “beat eggs, sugar, and about half the milk together, add flour, and mix well together, adding the remainder of milk as required, also bicarbonate and cream of tartar, fold in the melted butter.”

 

I did cut the recipe in half so that it would create less batter.  Note that 1 teacup is equivalent to a little less than ¾ cup  Teacups are a measurement that was used prior to the 21rst century.  I also tweaked the recipe a bit and used vegan milk and baking powder which contains a mix of bicarbonate soda and cream of tartar.

 

Here’s my tweaked recipe of Queen Elizabeth’s pancake recipe

2 teacups flour

2 tablespoons cane sugar

2 teacups ‘Not Milk’ (didn’t cut this in half for a thinner batter)

1 and 1/2  tablespoons melted vegan butter

1 whole egg

2-3 tsp baking powder

 

 

My oh my, were these pancakes delicious! I paired it with a little jam, (Queen Elizabeth style) topped with some fresh blueberries and coconut cream. Queen Elizabeth loved jam and would eat it everyday in a mini sandwich ever since she was a little girl.

 

It’s hard to say goodbye, knowing that people will never see the Queen photographed at another audience. Nor will we see her in her colorful suits and hats carrying her prized Launer handbags. 

After all, she was an elegant lady and an elegant lady always carries a handbag. The death of Queen Elizabeth has placed the monarchy on shaky ground but thanks to letters like this we can remember her more lovely attributes as well as the side of her that we didn’t get to see very often. She is now reunited with her predecessors and her husband.  Rest peacefully, Queen Lizzie!