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
I am planning to make these on Valentine’s day this year. My question…is there a good way to make them ahead (even just earlier that morning) and have them still taste great? I’m just worried that the first batch out of the oven will be gone long before the 2nd batch is done. Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Unfortunately, nope. They need to be served fresh. Your best best is just investing in a 2nd pan so you can bake more at a time!
I do have 2 pans, so hopefully I can just keep up with my 5 hungry kids. I’ve never made them before, so maybe they’ll be more filling than I’m expecting and they won’t eat as many as I think they will.
I tried the recipe as is (delicious, thank you!), and then tried adding some lemon zest (about 1 teaspoon) to the batter (which added a fun layer of flavor). I also tried adding a little sugar to the batter (1 T.), and found we didn’t need as much sugar on top of the pancakes when the batter had a little more sweetness. This is my go-to pancake recipe now because it’s so fast and the clean-up is so easy. Thank you!
Got up super early at 5:00 am to make these as a suprise Valentines day breakfast for my parents and they turned out great! I used a scant 3/4 cup flour and loved the texture. The one thing I’m curious about is that when I made them some of the smaller ones got kind of wrinkly in the middle while the larger ones looked perfect. Any idea what happened?
Thanks for the recipe they were great!
Love love love this recipe! So easy and the pancakes came out perfect! I drizzled with maple syrup and melted butter. I will never make pancakes on the griddle again! These were better, and zero clean-up.
I loved these!! At the last minute I realized I was out of milk so, I substituted with 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. I also tried your reduction on the flour, and used pan butter cooking spray instead of butter. They were perfect yummy bites! The strawberry sauce made a nice touch with the powdered sugar. I will definitely be making these again. Thank you!!
Thank you! I made these today and they were great. The quick berry sauce is something to remember for other recipes too.
Ok, so I made these tonight and they came out a littler differently. They really blew up to be much bigger than i expected (maybe the muffin tin I used!?) and they didn’t puff up in the center. They rose along the sides of each muffin tin and looked like mini bowls. I was thinking they’d be flatter and evenly distributed, like little discs for dipping. Thoughts??
That sounds very typical for German pancakes/Dutch babies/puffed pancakes. You can never tell EXACTLY how they’re going to turn out, but more often than not, they’re how you described them. 🙂
I love this recipe. I’ve made it several times (4 batches at a time) and my kiddos always wish there were more. I agree with another commenter that this is way better than the 6 egg recipe and I’ve also used partial fresh ground whole wheat flour. And it works out great. Thanks for your fabulous recipes. My kiddos request that I make recipes from your site because they know it’s all good.
This is my second time making these and they are great! I just don’t get why I can only get 14 and the recipe says it yields 24. Maybe my mini muffin tins are bigger? I thought about only filling 1/2 the muffin cup instead of 3/4 full.
My two year old daughter loves helping make these pancakes! I love that they are so simple she can really help. They taste great too!!!
These are great! I’m about to pull the second batch out of the oven. My picky eaters are really enjoying these. So much better than the other recipe I’ve tried that uses 6 eggs for 1 cup of flour and milk. I made them in a regular muffin tin and they really puff up.
Made them last night for our Valentine’s dinner. They were delicious and so pretty too! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!!
—Tif
This was a fun Valentine’s Day dinner for our family. Rave reviews from all!
They remind me of mini popovers 🙂
Does the melted butter go in the batter or is it just for drizzling? Hoping to make this early in the a.m. for Valentine’s breakfast! Thanks, Jenny C.
As the recipe states, butter is drizzled on top.
do you think I could make the batter the night before? I like to sleep as late as possible 🙂
I’m wondering the same thing…??
Probably. Never done it but I would assume it would be fine 🙂
I blended the batter and left it in the blender (sealed) in the fridge all night. It worked out great!
Make these over the weekend. So Cute! So Fun! So Easy! And the quick berry sauce … Yum!
I bought a mini muffin pan just to make these, and it was so worth it … love the mini version!
I just made these for my family this morning and they were a total hit! My husband said they tasted like something from a restaurant and my picky 4 year old gobbled them right up! I just cooked the berries on the stove with a little lemon juice and sugar and served them with whip cream (from a can!) and they were fabulous! Thanks for the great recipe!
These were perfect for breakfast today! In fact, I think they make the perfect breakfast for my three year old! She loves to help cook and the ingredient list is short and easy. She can play while they’re in the oven and I don’t have to watch them like pancakes so they don’t burn. AND (this is the best part) they don’t have any sugar in them! “Pancake balls,” as my daughter called them, are going to become a mainstay breakfast at our house!
I already had an oven pancake recipe that we loved, but I just had to try yours! And what do you know, I like it better 🙂 My only change was to add a little vanilla extract, yum! Here is my blog post about your wonderful recipe: http://cheesewithnoodles.blogspot.com/2012/02/oven-pancake.html Next time I will bake the batter in my mini muffin tins, I’m excited to see if they turn out puffy like in your pictures.
Found the pan! $13.92 on QVC. http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.K29076.desc.Technique-Cast-Iron-PreSeasoned-Heart-Pan
Thank you!!!
These mini puffed oven pancakes with berry sauce sound great. I think they could make a great breakfast treat.
So fun and mini. My grandma does an entire mini dinner with mini plates and mini loaves of bread and mini servings our soup, salad, mini meatloaves, with tiny glasses and little pies for dessert. And she makes mini invitations that are delivered with a magnifying glass and mini m&m’s are the table party favors. 🙂 Have fun with mini.
Had planned to make breakfast for dinner tonight – eggs, pancakes, bacon – something I do a few times a month – and then I remembered this post! I just happened to have fresh strawberries on hand and the rest of the ingredients were pantry staples!!! They were amazing! My husband loved the “treat!” Thank you for your amazing ideas…keep up the good work!
I have to do a food for Thinking Day (girl scout event). We have the Netherlands this year and this is Perfect!!!! Thank you for making it so easy with your tips and pictures. Yum-o!
made these today and used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup white flour. dusted with splenda and cinnamon and my girls gobbled them up.
I found a cast iron pan from Etsy, but it was $45 plus shipping of $15, but I bought it anyway! Amazon said they were unavailable. It’s so cute!
Made these for Saturday morning breakfast and they were a hit. I dipped some in cinnamon and sugar after buttering them, and my kids loved those the most. It felt like we were eating donuts for breakfast! Thanks!
I love oven pancakes- but I had never thought of making them in anything other than one large pan. thanks for the great idea!!!
Question…I made these for dinner tonight and they were DELICIOUS! But, something wonky happened when they rose in the oven. I used a square muffin pan, each square being 2.5″. I preheated it in the oven and used Pam instead of butter. The outer edges of the squares rose first causing the center to look sunken but then the centers started to rise as well. So from the top they looked square but sunken and from the bottom they have this kinda wonky part that looks like a pedestal. Didn’t stop us from eating them up. Was this from my pan maybe????
I’ve never made the smaller size ones but with the larger it is normal to have the sides rise the most with some or few bubbles forming in the middle.
How cute are those little heart cakes??? I’m not a big pancake fan, but I do like german pancakes and these look similar to the ones I make, but it never occurred to me to make mini ones! My kids are going to love me so much when I make this! Thanks!