We love German pancakes at our house. As I was making Brazilian Cheese Rolls one day, which had a similar, although savory, batter, I realized little mini German pancakes would be a super fun breakfast. The best part is that you don’t need a special pancake pan; a mini muffin tin works great! 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.
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Pancakes
- All-purpose flour – Making these over the years, I actually realized I like the texture of these better when I reduce the flour a little bit. I left the recipe below the same as originally posted because I know so many people make and love these, but I put a note on there that I usually reduce the flour now, from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup.
- Milk – Whatever milk you have will work!
- Eggs
- Salt
- Butter – Always use real butter if you can!
- Powdered sugar – For dusting.
Berry Sauce
- Fresh or frozen strawberries – You just need a little handful. You could use frozen mixed berries, too.
- Berry jam – Any variety.
- Sugar – Optional/if needed depending on how sweet your berries are.
Equipment
- Mini muffin tin – Any mini muffin tin will do. I love mine in a cast iron muffin tin because the edges get nice and crispy!
How to Make Mini Puffed Pancakes with Berry Sauce
- These are so easy! You just need to pop your pan in the oven and preheat it.
- While that’s heating up, pop some flour, eggs, milk, and a dash of salt in a blender and blend it all up.
- When your pan is hot, you’ll take it out and coat each well with butter, then pour in your batter and return the pan to the hot oven.
- While those are baking, whip up your quick berry sauce. Just mix up a few frozen berries and a few tablespoons of whatever berry jam you have in the fridge. 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.
- After 15-20 minutes, your little pancakes will be puffed up and beginning to brown. Pull them out, dust with powdered sugar, berry sauce, and a little dollop of whipped cream or cool whip if desired. Enjoy!
Storing and Other Tips
- These little pancakes are best eaten fresh out of the oven. If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy within 2-3 days.
- Part of what makes these puff so beautifully is the batter hitting that hot pan. Be sure to move quickly when buttering the wells and adding the batter!
Frequently Asked Questions
These are really best enjoyed fresh! That said, you could certainly make them and reheat as needed if you enjoy them that way.
These are best enjoyed fresh! If you want to try freezing, place finished pancakes on a lined baking sheet and freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe container. Reheat as needed, just know the texture may not be the same as when they are freshly cooked.
This is normal! they will slowly deflate as they cool.
Yep! They may just need to bake a couple extra minutes!
Mini Puffed Oven Pancakes with Berry Sauce
Ingredients
Pancakes
- ¾ cup flour *or reduce to ½ cup, see note below
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- ⅛ 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
Optional Toppings
- maple syrup
- whipped cream
- cool whip
Instructions
Pancakes
- Place mini muffin pan (or cast iron skillet) in oven and heat to 400℉. 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. (If using cast iron pan, coat entire pan surface with butter). Fill muffin wells ¾ 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?