Our family loves extravagant breakfasts. When our 14-year-old granddaughter said she wanted to make pancakes with me, I pulled out our recipe. But much to my surprise, Nicole waved me off.
“Let’s make stuffed pancakes,” she said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
I soon learned a stuffed pancake is made from any standard pancake recipe. Some people make a sandwich from two pancakes, putting a tempting layer between them. But Nicole said she inserts a yummy stuffing into pancakes as she makes them.
In a complete role reversal, I observed Nicole assembling ingredients in a stand mixer. We listened as they whirred into a satiny batter. She ladled four raw pancakes into a skillet and dotted chocolate chips on top. A second batter layer followed.
As we ate these luscious pancakes oozing warm bittersweet chocolate, I asked Nicole who taught her to make such decadent pancakes. She explained she’d seen Juliette, her older sister, experimenting with them.
To discover how Juliette got started, I sent her a text, the best way to reach a 16-year-old. She claimed she never saw stuffed pancakes before coming up with the idea.
Initially, she put chocolate on top of the pancakes while frying them.
“But then when I flipped them, the chocolate burned,” she wrote. “It stuck to the pan, and no one wanted to clean it. So next I put chocolate inside the pancakes.”
“Have you stuffed pancakes with anything else?” I asked.
“Strawberries, bananas and Nutella,” she responded. “You can use any fruit. I’d try marshmallows, too. Anything that makes you happy.”
Stuffed Pancakes | Dairy
Yield: 6 pancakes
Pancake Stuffings
For each pancake, use 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips or thinly sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, bananas or any combination of them. For this recipe, you’ll need 12 tablespoons or ¾ cup of stuffing ingredients.
Prep the pancake stuffing ingredients first and reserve them before making the pancake batter.
Pancake Batter
3 tablespoons sweet butter, plus 4-6 tablespoons butter for frying
1½ cups flour
1¼ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
1¼ cups milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla
Cut 3 tablespoons of butter into 4 pieces. Place the butter in a small pot and heat it over a medium-low flame until melted. Remove it from the flame and reserve.
Place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. With an electric mixer, combine the ingredients on low speed. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and melted butter. Over a medium flame, beat until combined.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large, preferably nonstick, skillet. Add more butter at any time when needed.
Using a ¼ cup measure, pour the batter into the skillet, making about 4 pancakes. When the top sides start to bubble, place the stuffing ingredients on top, keeping them in the center and away from the edges. With a soup spoon, drizzle enough batter on top to cover the stuffing ingredients.
When the bottoms have turned a deep golden color, gently flip the pancakes. Fry them until they reach a deep golden shade. You may need to flip them once or twice more.
The pancakes are ready when they feel firm and are cooked through. Serve immediately.
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