Authentic Mini Pancakes Recipe

The best authentic Dutch mini pancakes recipe that’s easy to make at home with ingredients you probably already have at home!

The kids love it: old-fashioned Dutch mini pancakes…

When the kids smell this in the morning, they get up with great excitement. Delicious freshly baked on a Sunday morning, with some powdered sugar and a knob of butter.

Simple but oh so delicious!

The best mini pancakes recipe

My husband always uses the easy version mini pancakes base recipe with baking powder, which is fine.

I always like to experiment with recipes to see which one comes out best. And I have found that mini pancakes with yeast are fluffier and have a real classic taste. It really makes a difference than baking them with baking powder. That is why I used the classic mini pancakes recipe with yeast for this recipe.

Another ingredient often used in recipes for mini pancakes is buckwheat flour. However, I looked for ingredients I already had at home. So I used all purposed flour and it works just as well and the mini pancakes were delicious!

What do you need?

The best thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to buy a lot of ingredients. In fact, you might already have these ingredients at home.

• Flour – Buckwheat flour is used in the authentic recipes, but wheat flour also works very well.
• Eggs – 2 medium free-range eggs. Try to get the cheapest eggs fresh from the farmer!
• Yeast – Although some use baking powder, my preference is still to use yeast. The only thing to keep in mind is that you need to let the batter rest for an hour so the yeast can do its job. But I assure you this is worth the wait!
• Milk – Whole milk is best because that makes your mini pancakes creamier. If you have semi-skimmed milk in the house that’s fine too.
• Pinch of salt – A little bit of salt for flavoring!
• Butter – Unsalted cream butter to grease your pan before pouring in the batter.

How do you make them step by step

Trust me. This recipe is so simple that you’ll probably make this recipe more often. And after a few times, you will be able to make this recipe by heart without a description!

Make the batter

1. Start by mixing the flour and salt in a large bowl.
   
2. Then, add the yeast and milk into the bowl. To avoid lumps in your batter, add in the milk little by little while mixing everything together with a whisk.
   
3. Next, add in the eggs and mix.
   
4. Cover the batter with a kitchen towel and let it rest for an hour at room temperature.
   

Bake the mini pancakes

1. When the yeast did its job, you will see little bubbles on the surface.
   
2. Heat the pan on medium high and coat the pan with some butter.
   
3. Use a milk jug or can to add the batter into the pan.
   
4. Bake the mini pancakes for 3 minutes each side. Use a fork or small skewer to turn them over.
   
5. When both sides are cooked, place the mini pancakes on a plate with a knob of butter and a generous amount of powdered sugar!

Find the printable recipe with measurements below.

Variations of mini pancakes

There are many fun variations you can make with mini pancakes. You can use them not only as a sweet dish, but also as a savory dish!

For example, you can use them as a snack during parties where you spread salmon with cream cheese on it.

Or how about banana mini pancakes? Healthy and yet delicious!

Where do mini pancakes come from?

Many children here in The Netherlands love mini pancakes and even the adults among us (uhum… me 😅) are bringing back childhood memories when eating them. But where do these mini pancakes actually come from?

The Netherlands

Before World War II, mini pancakes – in Holland we call them “poffertjes” – were prepared in a Dutch county Friesland when a baby was born. After that, it became more common in other places in the Netherlands.

But although most assume that mini pancakes come from the Netherlands, their origin is in France.

France

It began in the late 18th century where there was a shortage of wheat flour. Wheat flour was used to make “Hosties” in Catholic churches. Hosties were slices of unleavened bread that was used by the church as the body of Christ.

Due to the shortage of wheat flour, monks experimented with other kinds of flour. This is where the mini pancakes were born. And to this day, we still enjoy them!

Tips for the best mini pancakes

• Are your mini pancakes too dry? This is probably because you baked them too long, so don’t bake them for too long. Another way to make your mini pancakes less dry is to grease the pan a little more with butter before putting the batter in.
• Use baking powder instead of yeast. Though, the authentic way to make mini pancakes is with yeast. Using baking powder is fine too, but it will be less fluffy.
• You could also bake mini pancakes without a mini pancake pan. It’s just a little trickier to bake them separately from each other. Also, they will not have the usual shape of how they used to be.
• To avoid lumps in the batter, you can add the milk little by little while mixing it with the flour with a whisk.

What kind of pan can you use?

Cast iron

You can use a cast iron mini pancake pan that you can heat on the stove and grease it with some butter in the dimples before pouring in the batter. This is the old-fashioned way that still works very well.

Electric mini pancake pan

However, nowadays you also have electric mini pancake pans that you can plug in before baking your mini pancakes slowly. The nice thing about this is that your mini pancakes don’t burn easily. Another advantage is that these often have a nonstick coating. Personally, I find this easier and therefore I prefer to use an electric mini pancakes pan!