One of my goals in life is to somehow make miniature versions of every food ever made. Okay not really, but I do sort of have a little obsession with miniaturizing things. I love puffed pancakes (aka Dutch Baby, German Pancake, etc.) and as I was making Brazilian Cheese Rolls the other day, I realized they have a similar batter, which made me think I should try little bite-sized versions of these too. Lots of people make these in a big 9×13 pan and cut it into squares, I usually prefer mine in a cast iron skillet because the edges cook up so crisp and brown, but this is a fun little twist. I often try to think of ways to make foods easier for my kids to eat and these are just so…poppable!
This is something we make often at my house (sometimes even for dinner!) because it’s made with super basic ingredients. Just milk, flour, eggs, and a bit of butter. I make mine with the least amount of eggs possible, so it’s not so…eggy. They’re just soft and pillowy and perfect for dipping in just about anything. I just put everything in my blender and then pour them into a mini muffin tin.
Unless of course your awesome blog partner sent you the world’s cutest cast iron mini-heart pan for Christmas, then definitely use that.
Pop the pan in a hot oven and watch that batter puff right up. See how those edges browned up? That’s why I love using cast iron, but a simple nonstick muffin tin works great too.
While they’re in the oven you can whip up a quick berry sauce. This is one of my sneaky secrets. It’s so easy to make a fresh berry sauce if you’re like me and keep those bags of frozen fruit in the freezer for smoothies. The triple berry mix from Costco is great, or just frozen strawberries or raspberries. Or fresh certainly works as well, but I don’t usually have a fridge stocked with fresh berries in January. I just mix up a few frozen berries and a few tablespoons of whatever berry jam I have in the fridge. I heat it in the microwave for a bit and then mash it all together with a fork, adding sugar if needed. The jam sweetens and gives body to the sauce and the berries make it taste like it’s fresh. It’s so easy; I use this for ice cream, pancakes, waffles, and all kinds of stuff like that.
When those little golden puffs are done just pop them onto a plate or platter and drizzle with some melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. You can either pour the sauce over, or put it in little bowls for dipping. My kids love dipping them in maple syrup too.
A little Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream makes it extra special.
Since these are pretty quick and easy, they’d make a fun special breakfast for Valentine’s Day.
Annnnd I know we’re focusing on healthy eating this month, but stick with me! The fact that these are miniature makes it really easy to portion. One little mini muffin sized puff (alone) clocks in at just over 20 calories, so you can definitely have 5 or 6 with some fresh fruit on top and a dallop of cool whip and still not even be splurging. Eat up!
Mini Puffed Oven Pancakes with Berry Sauce
recipe by ourbestbites.com
Ingredients
3/4 cup flour (*see note below)
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted
powdered sugar
Berry Sauce
6 large frozen or fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons berry jam
optional: sugar if needed, to taste
*Since so many have made these and love them, I didn’t want to alter the recipe from its original posting. however, since making these more often, I have found I prefer the texture of the finished puffed pancakes when I decrease the flour to 1/2 cup. Try it both ways and See how you like it!
Instructions
Place mini muffin pan (or cast iron skillet) in oven and heat to 400 degrees. While oven is heating, place flour, milk, eggs, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Carefully remove the pan from the oven (don’t forget it’s hot!) and quickly spray the wells with non-stick spray, or brush with melted butter. But we’re going for quick and easy here so I just grab the spray. (If using cast iron pan, coat entire pan surface with butter). Fill muffin wells 3/4 full with batter. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden on top. Remove puffs and place on plate or platter. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Drizzle with berry sauce and top with cool whip or whipped cream, or serve with sauce and/or maple syrup for dipping.
Quick and Easy Berry Sauce
If using frozen berries, place berries and jam in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute. Use a fork to stir and mash everything together (cut strawberries if necessary), or place everything in a blender and pulse a few times until desired consistency is reached. Add sugar to taste for sweetness and a few teaspoons of water or juice only if needed for consistency.
Yields about 24 mini muffin pancake puffs
Questions & Reviews
Dutch Babies were the first dish I ever ate at my MIL’s house, and it’s been my favorite ever since. She always makes them for me, but my kids don’t really like them. So, _I_ was delighted to try these… but wasn’t sure if my kids would like them or not. Never fear, they thought they were FANTASTIC. Definitely going to make them again, but will probably invest in another muffin tin. lol They take far too long to cook to do one pan at a time. 🙂
We call these Dutch Babies and make them quite often in a 9×13 pan. They puff up all around the edges. I love the idea of making little ones! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this site!
Has anyone tried freezing these? We like to keep frozen waffles and pancakes for quick breakfasts. I would be curious if these would re-heat nicely
Oh my!! It’s 11pm the lights keep flickering(wind storm), and yet here I am whipping up a batch of these. I can’t wait for them to come out of the oven. Hopefully the power won’t go out.
Made these for dinner last night-devoured by all. Love it!
So I tried this tonight and mine were really dense and tasted heavy of eggs but I followed the recipe to the letter. Is there a trick involved? I doubled and triple checked to make sure I didn’t miss a thing. I just thought these would be lighter. Also would you suggest any sugar in the batter? Please help.
I know you said you double checked, but it really sounds like you may have mis-measured something. I can’t think of any other reason that they’d be dense. You can add a couple tablespoons of sugar if you like; generally these are made unsweetened to balance out sweet toppings.
So I used to have this same problem but I learned a trick. Beat your eggs light and fluffy before adding the rest of the ingredients then after you add everything else keep beating and beating for seriously like 5 minutes (I use a hand mixer). Allowing the eggs to whip up makes a big difference. Also make sure the pan is hot, hot, hot! If it hasn’t had enough time in the oven to heat through that can also affect it. As far as taste you can add cinnamon and vanilla to ease the egginess. Hope this helps! 🙂
This is the first time I’ve been to your blog and love it! Thanks!! I also wanted to tell you I didn’t make German Pancakes for years because it was a little too “eggy”. My husband helped one day and we added vanilla and cinnamon and WA-HOO…not eggy tasting (c: (I use 6 eggs, 1 c milk, I c flour, cinnamon and vanilla) I love the high protein from the eggs!
I’ll have to try that because I never make German pancakes because they’re eggy! 🙂
My 3 boys LOVED these! Very easy and super good! They were so excited to try something new…said they tasted like funnel cakes from the fair! Thanks
Can’t wait to make these! I even have a cast iron pan for individual portions I’ve been wanting to use. PERFECT!
So so fun! Can they be made in a regular-size muffin tin?
We love these! My mother-in-law makes them in pie plates. It’s just enough for one person and the edges get nice and crispy. We put cooked apple slices with cinnamon, walnuts and a bit of sugar on ours. Delicious!
Way fun and Way Cute!! Weekend dinner for sure … thanks for sharing 🙂
I made these this morning and loved them! My husband who isn’t a big fan of pancakes liked them! He really liked the berry sauce!
I will be looking for a heart-shaped pan as well…. this looks fabulous!!
Oh I want that pan, I would be making everything mini heart shaped! And these sound so good, must try.
I made these tonight for dinner. The berry sauce was delicious. I cooked my pancake in cast iron skillet. It was really good but it fell very soon after I took it out of the oven. Did I do something wrong?
From what other comments say, I believe that the reason the ones in the post stay “puffed” is because they are so small. Regular skillet oven pancakes typically do fall after being taken out of the oven. So it sounds to me like you did nothing wrong. 🙂
nope- nothing wrong, it does that! Make a nice spot for filling 🙂
These look so good. I’m totally making some later.
These look so yummy! I have heart and snowflake silicon “pans” would that work? If so do I need to preheat them? Would love to try this for my little guy one morning this week.
Oh my! These sound amazing-can’t wait to try this!
Would love to know where your wonderful Christmas gift came from!
Amazon!
I saw some heart shaped cast iron pans made by chefgadget.com –
They were only $17 – not sure if they are deep enough but they looked good.
Type in cast iron pans on their website and it comes up. These “pancakes” looks so fun. Thanks for the idea.
where do you get those cast iron muffin pans-I’m in love!
Your blog makes me happy every time I read it! What a cute idea and I love that it’s quick and simple too. My kids would l.o.v.e these. Instead of publishing cookbooks, maybe you should just make a wonderful encyclopedia of all your posts on your blog! 🙂
Things are always better mini! Butts included 🙂
Never tried pancakes in the oven before. These look amazing!
I love the idea of Mini puff pancakes. I think I am going to make these this weekend for my stepdaughters. They love anything mini and they love pancakes! Looks delicious!
Mmmm… I’ve never thought of Mini ones! How fun!
My favorite topping is fresh lemon juice with the powdered sugar…
Fun to make them mini. I’m “egg”-cited to try making the recipe with only 2 eggs. Mine usually calls for 6-8 (and the same amount of milk and flour as yours!) haha 🙂
We just made a dutch baby in a big cast iron skillet last week but I LOVE these mini ones so much more. Plus they keep their “puffiness” since they stay individual size. Thanks for the idea and I love the berry sauce too!!!
Will be making these for dinner tomorrow, yes that’s right, dinner 🙂