Mini Fluffy Pancakes
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Mini dollar pancakes are those small round pancakes with 3-4cm in diameter. My son was treated with these mini dollar pancakes by his 2nd aunt during our last trip to Penang. It was love at first bite for him. Ever since then, he kept reminding us of his memorable food experience. Knowing that he loved these pancakes so much, I started my mini pancake experiment. After a few rounds of trial and errors, I finally found the secret to making perfect mini soft and fluffy pancakes! Yay!
Regardless of which pancake recipe you follow, place more emphasis on the technique as it helps to produce soft and fluffy pancake texture without having to add too much baking powder.
For these mini fluffy pancakes, I use a simple recipe that calls for all the basic ingredients. What makes it so unique is how the eggs are beaten. Eggs are first separated. Then the egg whites are whipped up to form peaks and folded into the batter. This method will help to create more air bubbles in the batter. When the batter is cooked, the pancakes will puff up magically. Being a person who always flunks science exams, this is indeed a great discovery for me. Hehe!
You may think making mini round or fun shaped pancakes is difficult. In actual fact, it’s not only easy but the most fun part of all in making pancakes. I learned a cool and neat trick on how to do it from this video. By pouring the batter into a refillable ketchup plastic bottle (refer to the photo below), you can control the flow of your batter with ease when creating the size or shape of pancakes that you prefer. Why not get your kids involved and share the fun too? I’m sure they will be very proud to present you with their very own pancake creations. If you can’t find the ketchup bottle, you can also use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. That’s what I did for the mini love shaped pancakes shown in the photo above.
To increase your success rates in making these mini pancakes, remember to apply the following basic rules:
- Use a good non-stick pan so the pancake can be loosen easily.
- Make sure the pan is hot (but not smoking hot) before you put the batter – simply sprinkle a few drops of water onto the pan. If they sizzle away, the pan is hot and ready for use.
- Set your heat to medium low.
- Make sure the heat is well distributed so it will give your pancake a more even colour.
I have also included extra tips below.
These pancakes are perfect for both breakfast and tea time snack. You can serve them with your choice of topping and filling, be it sweet or savoury. I love to serve them with yogurts (sometimes sorbet or ice cream) and top with fresh fruits and roasted nuts. I hope this fun filled food experiment of mine will bring you and your kids much joy this September school holidays. Let’s get into action now!
Recipe
Adapted and modified from
Not The Kitchen Sink and
Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days from the Naked Chef
Ingredients
Steps
- In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Sieve and set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar and milk together until thoroughly combined. Then stir in oil and mix well.
- Gradually beat in the sifted dry ingredients and mix until a smooth batter is formed. Do not over-mix (note 2). Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk egg whites with salt until they form soft peaks (note 3). It can be done with an electrical mixer or by hand with a wire balloon whisk. Then gently fold into the batter with the wire balloon whisk to roughly incorporate. After that, change to a rubber spatula to continue the folding until the batter is well incorporated.
- Pour mixture into a refillable ketchup plastic bottle (refer to photo above). It is now ready to use. (note 4)
- Heat a non-stick pan or griddle on a medium low heat until hot (not smoking hot) (note 5). [Tip: Sprinkling a few drops of water onto the pan. If they sizzle away, the pan is hot]
- Pour a little oil onto some kitchen papers. Wipe pan to coat. Repeat this step from time to time.
- To make mini round shaped pancakes, hold the plastic bottle upright and squeeze the batter with gentle pressure. First, form an outer circle and then swirl the batter inward to fill up the gap. Watch the video here.
- Cook the pancake on one side until air bubbles form and the edges are dry. Loosen the pancake with a spatula or spoon and flip it over. Continue to cook the other side until lightly golden brown. Do not overcook. Once it’s done, remove from pan. Refrain from pressing the pancakes.
- Serve warm with fresh fruits and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. It goes well with fruit sauce and yoghurt too. Spread some Nutella or fruit jam would also taste delicious.
Notes
- Eggs are easier to be separated when cold. But, leave to thaw until room temperature before using them.
- If you do get lumps in your batter at this stage, press it through a sieve using the back of a spoon.
- Salt helps to firm up the proteins. You can also beat the egg white until stiff peaks as mentioned in Jamie Oliver’s recipe. I had tried it out myself and it worked as well just that it’s slightly harder to incorporate into the batter.
- For this particular recipe, it is not necessary to rest the batter for 15 minutes. Use the batter as soon as possible before the air bubbles deflate.
- To make pancake with even colour, the distribution of heat must be consistently even.
- If you do not intend to make mini or different shapes of pancakes, scoop about 1 ladleful of batter onto the pan and cook.
- For the first batch, make one or two small pancakes to see the end result. Adjust your heat if necessary. You will get better results in your subsequent batches.
- You can keep your pancakes in air tight container and store in fridge for about 4-5 days. To reheat pancakes, preheat your oven/ toaster oven for 5 minutes. Then place your pancakes in the oven/ toaster oven for another 5 minutes (with heat off).