Swedish Pancakes

These thin buttery pancakes are delicious topped (or filled) with fruit and cream or yogurt, jam, syrup, etc. They’re similar to crepes, but a bit more thick and chewy.

This recipe was a specialty of my great-great grandmother, Emily Frederica Isaacson Wilson (1890-1977). She called them “skinny pancakes,” but it’s a traditional Swedish recipe that she likely learned from her Swedish mother, Carolina Fredrice Hallgren Isaacson (1845-1922). Carolina was raised in Landskrona Stads, Malmöhus, Sweden, as the fourth of ten children. With such a large family, Carolina had to begin work at just ten years old: working at a sugar factory and in the beet fields as she grew up. At age 18, Carolina got work as a dairy maid in Denmark, where she milked about 25 cows twice daily and helped churn the cream into butter. While in Denmark, Carolina met and fell in love with Julius Hansen, a Danish woodworker and cabinet maker. They were married and had five children together, although some of their children died young.

As a young couple in Denmark, Carolina and Julius met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and joined the church in 1868 in spite of strong opposition from their families. Eventually, in 1881, Carolina and Julius decided to emigrate to Utah, to be near others of their faith. Sadly, Julius died from appendicitis in 1883, leaving Carolina as a single mother. To support herself and her children, Carolina found work doing laundry for wealthier members of her community in Ogden, including washing cloth diapers for those with babies, which was labor-intensive and unpleasant, but enabled her to scrape by on her earnings of $1 per day. Carolina didn’t speak much English yet, which meant that she was looked down on by her neighbors and often taken advantage of by her employers. It was a difficult and lonely life, and Carolina confided to her family that if she’d had the money, she’d have returned to Denmark. 

However, in 1885, Carolina became acquainted with Isaac Isaacson, who was a Swedish widower and about a decade her senior, and later that year they were married. They started a small dairy farm in West Weber, UT, where Carolina used her experience working in a Danish dairy to produce high-quality butter that they sold to special customers in the Ogden area. To their surprise, in 1890, when Carolina was 45 and Isaac was 56, they had a daughter, Emily Frederica Isaacson. They ran the dairy until Isaac passed away 19 years later in 1909, and then Carolina and Emily sold the farm and bought a small hotel in Salt Lake City, thinking it would be easier to manage than a farm. (Carolina’s oldest daughter was married and living in Ogden, and her son William died in 1908.) Running the hotel turned out to be much more work than they anticipated, as they found they were working night and day, so they hired a night clerk, William M. Wilson. He and Emily soon fell in love and were married in 1911. About six years later, the family relocated to a homestead in Lund, Idaho, which is where Carolina died in 1922. Nine years later, Emily and William returned to live in Utah, where they raised their children. Emily outlived William by 30 years, during which time she remarried and enjoyed spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren before passing away in Ogden in 1977.

These “skinny pancakes” were always a hit, and fondly remembered by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who enjoyed them. Here’s the recipe. (The only change I made was to omit the 1/2 tsp baking powder Emily’s recipe called for, because I’ve made it several times both with and without it, and I can’t find that it makes a difference. Most similar recipes don’t use baking powder, so I opted to skip it.)

Swedish Pancakes

In a blender or mixing bowl, combine:

• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups flour

Blend or whisk together until smooth, with no lumps remaining. (The blender makes this quick and easy.)

Pour a thin layer of batter into a hot buttered skillet, and tilt the pan in a swirling motion to spread the batter around the pan. Then cook over medium heat until golden, flipping once, about 1-2 minutes on the first side, and a minute or less on the second side. Stack pancakes on a plate as you go.

To serve, fold or roll pancakes and top with jam or fruit, yogurt, whipped cream, or syrup. Or you can stuff them with fruit, cream, yogurt, chocolate, etc, before rolling and topping as desired.

Enjoy!