Pancakes come in many shapes and sizes.
One of the delights of pancakes is that you can make them in a variety of sizes and shapes. Silver dollars, flapjacks, smiley faces made out of raisins and Mickey Mouse pancakes are just some of the creative variations possible with this breakfast standby. Use the flexibility of this wholesome food to express your religious convictions with cross pancakes.
Hot Cross Pancakes
The simplest way to make cross pancakes is to mark them with a cross. To make a traditional hot cross bun glaze, pour 1 1/3 cups of confectioner's sugar in a bowl. Spoon in 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract, 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon zest chopped finely and 2 tablespoons of whole milk and whisk the mixture aggressively until it forms a glaze. Cook your pancakes as usual and, with a small spoon, apply the glaze in a cross pattern. Alternately, use jam or frosting to draw the cross. For a more nutritious cross cake, place raisins, currants or kernels of canned corn into the pancake in a cross shape while it is cooking.
Cross Variations
Although the T-shaped Latin Cross is the most popular one in our culture, it is far from the only one used in religious worship. Draw the shapes of different crosses on several pancakes with glaze or use a sharp knife to cut your pancakes into several cross shapes. Add a second, shorter horizontal beam above the first and you have a patriarchal cross, representing the plaque above Jesus' head. Draw a circle around a cross made of two equal bars for a solar or sun cross, a pre-Christian symbol representing the four seasons and the four directions. Draw an upper-case Y on the pancake for a forked cross, popular in medieval paintings of the crucifixion.
Shrove Tuesday Meal
Pancakes were a traditional food for Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Families would use up butter and milk by making pancakes to prepare for the fasting and austerity of Lent that followed. These cakes would be served with other rich food both as a last party before Lent and as a way to use up food. Have your own Shrove Tuesday meal by preparing your favorite style of cross pancakes and serving them with meat, paczis and other traditional Mardi Gras foods.
Cross Crepes
Instead of decorating or cutting your pancakes to look like crosses, arrange them in a cross shape. Bake thin crepes and roll them around cheese, ham, spinach, egg, maple syrup or custard. Arrange your crepes on a large party tray with four crepes at 90 degrees to each other to form a cross. Alternately, use all the crepes to create one large cross filling up the whole tray.
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