I tried a royal family recipe for scones that the Queen made for a US president in the 1950s. If you like American-style pancakes, these are for you.

I tried a “drop scone” recipe the late Queen Elizabeth II gave a US president in 1959. Paul Hackett – WPA Pool/Getty Images, Maria Noyen/Insider In 1959, Queen Elizabeth II hosted a barbecue at Balmoral and invited then-US President Eisenhower.   For her event, she reportedly whipped up a plate of “drop scones” using an old family recipe.

The dish must’ve been a hit because she sent the president a copy of the recipe a year later. Queen Elizabeth II had a bit of a sweet tooth. Queen Elizabeth II.

Getty Images/PoolFormer royal chef Darren McGrady wrote in his cookbook, “Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen,” that she was a big fan of chocolate. “On Easter Sunday the chefs would go to great lengths to prepare all sorts of chocolate treats to make up for the forty-day abstinence,” McGrady wrote, as Insider previously reported. “There were chocolate cakes plus milk chocolate, white chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate eggs.

“But while the Queen, who died aged 96 in September, had access to a host of chefs and kitchen staff throughout her life, she wasn’t above stepping into the kitchen to prepare her own dishes from time to time.  While hosting a barbecue for President Dwight Eisenhower at Balmoral Castle in 1959, the Queen actually made a sweet dish herself. Queen Elizabeth II with US president Dwight Eisenhower at a White House state banquet in 1957.

Keystone/Getty ImagesIn 1959, according to the US National Archives, the Queen entertained President Eisenhower at Balmoral Castle and for the occasion, she whipped up a batch of “drop scones” from a family recipe. Drop scones, also known as “Scotch pancakes” and “dropped scones,” originated in Scotland and are more similar to American-style pancakes than crepes, according to the BBC. Out of the 13 presidents she met during her lifetime, Eisenhower may have been the only one to have eaten a dish that the Queen ever prepared herself.

And he must’ve liked it — a year later she mailed the president the recipe for the scones, which included ingredient substitution suggestions, according to a copy of the Queen’s letter shared by the National Archives. Given not much is known about the Queen’s culinary skills, I wanted to give the recipe a go myself.   A lot of the ingredients in this royal recipe can be found in your pantry.

The recipe called for staple pantry ingredients. Maria Noyen/InsiderMost of the ingredients for the Queen’s drop scones recipe, which can make enough for 16 people, are kitchen staples. The ingredients needed are: 4 teacups of flour4 tablespoons of caster sugar2 teacups of milk2 whole eggs2 teaspoons of baking soda3 teaspoons of cream of tartar2 tablespoons of melted butterThe one thing I was initially caught off guard by was the use of “teacups” as a measurement.

I had a quick search online and from what I gathered, a teacup is roughly the same size as a 3/4 cup, according to 12 Tomatoes, an online cooking website.   First off, you’ll need to crack two eggs into a large bowl before adding the caster sugar. After cracking two eggs, I added four tablespoons of caster sugar.

Maria Noyen/InsiderThe recipe starts off easy enough – cracking eggs and adding sugar. I’m not an experienced baker by any means but I do know that there’s something to be said for mixing dry ingredients prior to wet ingredients. This recipe seemingly ignores this baking method.

In any case, wanting to stay as true to the Queen’s instructions as possible, I stuck to the recipe. Next up, add half of the milk via teacup — the closest thing I had to a teacup was a small mug. The recipe called for using teacups as a measurement tool.

Maria Noyen/InsiderI knew I didn’t have to use the small mug at all, given I was measuring the milk out in cups, but again, I wanted to recreate how I’d imagine the Queen making the recipe as best I could. According to the Queen’s recipe, the next step is simple: add flour. It felt like I added way too much flour.

Maria Noyen/InsiderYou’d be surprised at how much 4 teacups’ worth of flour actually is. After dumping it into the bowl, I began to get suspicious of how thick these pancakes might end up being. After adding the remaining milk, the baking soda, and the cream of tartar, I gave the entire mixture a good stir.

And yes, it was very thick. With the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar added, the mix started to feel doughy. Maria Noyen/InsiderThe mixture for the drop scones had similar ingredients to American-style pancakes.

And my early suspicions about how thick it would be were proven correct. As I attempted to stir, I thought it looked more like pizza dough than pancake mixture.  I nearly forgot to add the melted butter.

Butter was the last ingredient to add. Maria Noyen/InsiderI took two knobs of butter, roughly the equivalent of two tablespoons, and popped it into the microwave. After around 20 seconds, when the butter was melted, I took it out and folded it into the mixture as per the Queen’s recipe.

 My first drop scone was a gigantic disaster — literally. The first pancake was way too thick. Maria Noyen/InsiderAnytime I’ve ever made pancakes, I knew that the first one was going to be a disaster.

But aside from burning the odd one to a crisp, I’ve never made anything as unappetizing as my first attempt at making the Queen’s drop scones.  In fairness, the Queen left no instructions on how much batter to put into the pan or how long to cook the scones on each side. I ended up using the method of waiting to see bubbles before flipping but that didn’t quite go as planned.

I ended up adding way too much of the batter into the pan, which meant that it took over six minutes for any bubble to appear on the scone. The result was a dry pancake-like lump with a raw center. I definitely left the first drop scone in the pan too long because one side was dark brown and rock hard.

The first pancake. Maria Noyen/InsiderThere’s no mistaking it, the first scone was a disaster. However, as the batter sizzled away on the butter glazed pan, it did smell pretty similar to a pancake so at least I had some glimmer of hope that if could just put in the right amount, I could get a more appetizing result.

Eventually, I made two smaller-sized drop scones before plating. The Queen’s recipe didn’t include what to serve them with but I decided on jam, syrup, and butter. My pancake setup.

Maria Noyen/InsiderThe Queen didn’t include any details about toppings in the recipe she sent to Eisenhower. So given the dish sounds like a blend between pancakes and scones, I decided to eat it with syrup, butter, and strawberry jam.  The scones reminded me of pancakes, but ones that were slightly more bread-like.

I grew up eating crepes, so it was a different experience. The pancake was very dense, which made it seem more like a scone. Maria Noyen/InsiderThe Queen’s drop scones were very similar to American-style pancakes but doughier.

Growing up in Europe, I’m much more used to making and eating thin-style pancakes. The flavor of the scone itself wasn’t bad and did its job as a base for the jam and syrup, but the texture was just a little too dense for my liking.  Ultimately, I’m going to stick to making crepes at home.

 But that said, I love an old family recipe. So even though I might not be the biggest fan, I’d like to imagine the Queen’s living family members will continue to whip up drop scones in her memory from time to time. Read the original article on Insider.