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American Pancakes

Felix Intelegando Updated All recipes

American pancakes are small, thick pancakes with a raising agent in the batter, fried for about 2 minutes on each side. This batch, made with 275 g flour, half a litre of milk and two eggs, gives 20 pancakes in about 30 minutes. For me, brunch is not complete without a stack of them and some maple syrup. There is nothing wrong with ordinary thin pancakes, but the American kind suits breakfast and brunch better, and because they are smaller and thicker they are easier to flip.

A stack of four thick American pancakes on a white plate with maple syrup pouring over the top, blueberries and raspberries beside them, on a pale wooden table by a window
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A stack of four thick American pancakes on a white plate with maple syrup pouring over the top, blueberries and raspberries beside them, on a pale wooden table by a window

Recipe

American Pancakes

Prep
5 mins
Cook
25 mins
Total
30 mins
Serves
20 pancakes

Ingredients

Method

  1. Mix flour, salt, sugar and baking soda together and whisk it with the milk.
  2. Add vanilla extract, if none a little plain vanilla powder can be an alternative.
  3. Beat finally the eggs in. You can also whip whites separately and add it onto the flour mixture. It provides a fluffier dough.
  4. Melt a knob of butter on a frying pan.
  5. Use approx. ½ dl dough for each pancake – it may be a few or three on a regular frying pan. If you want them all round and fine at the edge, a mirror egg pan will be perfectly perfect, but there can only be one pancake at a time.
  6. Fry the American pancakes 2 minutes on each side, and stack them on a small dish or a plate.
  7. Repeat steps 4-6 until all the dough are utilized.

Step by step, in pictures

The six stages of the recipe, from mixing the batter to stacking the finished pancakes.

  1. Line drawing of a whisk stirring batter in a large mixing bowl, a jug of milk standing beside itWhisk the dry ingredients with the milk
  2. Line drawing of a dropper releasing drops of vanilla into a bowl of smooth batterAdd the vanilla
  3. Line drawing of a hand whisking batter in a glass bowl, two broken eggshells beside the bowlBeat in the eggs
  4. Line drawing of a cube of butter melting in a frying pan on a stovetopMelt butter in the pan
  5. Line drawing of a ladle pouring batter into a frying pan that already holds two round pancakesPour about ½ dl batter per pancake
  6. Line drawing of a spatula lifting a pancake above a frying pan on a gas burner, a stack of pancakes on a plate beside itFry 2 minutes a side and stack

How American pancakes differ from thin pancakes

American pancakes are smaller and thicker than thin pancakes, and the batter contains a raising agent, so they come out thick rather than flat. That thickness is also what makes them easier to turn. If you want the thin, plate-sized kind, see the recipe for plain pancakes, which many also call Rasmus Klump pancakes.

Melt all the butter first to save time and avoid smoke

Instead of melting a fresh knob of butter in the pan before every batch, melt all of it at once before you start frying and pour it into a small jug. Pour a little of the melted butter into the pan, then add the batter. You do not have to wait for butter to melt between batches, and it helps keep smoke out of the kitchen.

Two variations: cottage cheese or grated pear

Once you have made the basic recipe, two additions are worth trying:

  • Cottage cheese: stir 100 to 120 g of cottage cheese into the batter.
  • Grated pear: at step 2, when the vanilla goes in, grate one whole pear from end to end, core and all, stir it into the batter, and carry on with the recipe as usual.

For a fruit version with a different base, there is also a recipe for banana pancakes.

What to serve with American pancakes

The simplest way to serve them is with maple syrup, fresh fruit or berries and perhaps a sprinkle of sugar. All kinds of fruit work, and some prefer something rich or savoury. Ideas:

  • Maple syrup or another syrup
  • Fresh berries, sliced apples, grapes or cantaloupe
  • Greek yogurt or sour cream
  • Jam: blackcurrant, strawberry or blackberry
  • Nutella
  • Ricotta, or cream cheese with tomato
  • Bacon or ham
  • Ice cream

Watch American pancakes being made

If you would rather see the batter and the flipping before you start, here is a video walkthrough of American pancakes from the YouTube channel Very Easy Recipes. Its quantities may differ from the card above.

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