You've got the best possible excuse to eat them all day long, so here's a never fail recipe for the ultimate pancake. Pancakes have always been the top treat in our family. I remember my nanna cooking them while I watched from the floor and now my 9 year old daughter (above) makes them on her own. So, the recipe below has been handed down through the generations - it's a tried and tested winner for non-stick fine crepes.

Pancake Day, then, is one of my all time favorite days on the culinary calendar, where I have the best possible excuse to eat piles of them - all sugary with lemon or filled with mushrooms and fresh herbs. But on the Christian calendar, it's known as Shrove Tuesday - the day before Lent, where Christians give up something to empathize with Jesus when he was sent into the wilderness for 40 days - and tempted by the devil. Pancakes were a way of clearing out the cupboards and using up all the food before giving something up - basically the feast before the fast.

I'm ashamed to admit, I love them so much, were the devil handing out pancakes, I'd be a shoo in for the horned one. Here is one of my favorite pancake recipes:

Makes 16 pancakes.

Ingredients
2 cups of sifted plain flour
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
pinch of salt
100 grams butter
lemon
sugar

Method

1. The trick for delicious pancakes is to keep them warm over a covered pan of boiling water. This way all the juices melt, covering each pancake in a buttery, lemony syrup. So, place a large pan of boiling water on the stove and cover with a plate that sits on the rim of the pot - rather like bain marie. Cover the plate with a pot lid - this is where the pancakes will stay warm.2. Pour flour and salt into a bowl 3. Add the egg and milk. 4. Whisk with an electric beater until smooth 5. Melt a tiny amount of butter in the pan, making sure it's not too hot 5. Pour the mixture into the middle of the pan and swirl around to the edges - this creates a wafer thin crepe 6. Flip - from the pan, if you can! 7. Turn out the pancake, squeeze with lemon, a sprinkling of sugar and a tiny fleck of butter 8. Roll up and place under the lid 9. Eat! The best thing about this recipe is that everyone sits down together - so the chef doesn't have to miss out.

About the author: Susan Tomlinson runs the website Debate Your Plate.