Gingerbread Pancakes with a Vanilla Butter Glaze

I totally tricked my kids into eating these pancakes.

You see, we aren’t HUGE gingerbread fans in this house.

I mean, we like it. But it can come off a little strong on the molasses side at times (read: what most normal people like about gingerbread 😆), so we tend to get our fill rather quickly.

I am currently working on a less molasses-y version of these classic Christmas cutout cookies (alliteration FTW), but until those are ready, I’d like to introduce you to the Gingerbread Pancake (with a decadent buttery vanilla glaze...mmmmm. Glaze.).

These are a spin-off of my Perfect Pancake Recipe (coming soon to the site!), and are chalked full of spices + juuuuust the right amount of molasses. You can absolutely toss another tablespoon in if you wish the flavor to be stronger, but that’s about as high as I’d go before the texture of the pancake could become compromised.

Ok, back to my kids and my maternal trickery.

They had asked me to make pancakes, and inspiration struck. GINGERBREAD ONES. But how to coax my picky little eaters into trying them?

I told them I made special Christmas pancakes. I really through it was quite a clever distraction.

Not to be distracted (ba humbug), they promptly asked “Yeah but what’s the FLAVOR?” I gave them a little grin and told them that they’d have to taste them before I revealed what was in them ... but that I’d made a glaze to go with said mystery cakes.

They were immediately on board.

And low and behold, THEY LOVED THEM.

(Insert wild applause from parents all over the world who also face the challenge of pleasing picky eaters).

The moral of this breakfast tale? If my kids like these magical Christmas cakes, I do believe that you will too!

As always, I do provide Gluten Free and Dairy Free options that I have tried and love. I do not currently have a good egg substitute, so I do not offer a fully vegan version. If you have an egg substitute you love (and keeps pancakes super fluffy, totally the issue I’ve come up against with egg subs - my baked goods fall flat), please leave it below in the comments because I’d love to try it.

Happy breakfasting, bakers!

Print Recipe

Gingerbread Pancakes with a Vanilla Butter Glaze

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 250kcal

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour  2 tablespoon sugar  ½ teaspoon salt  2 teaspoon baking powder  1 large egg  1 ¼ cups whole milk  3 tablespoon melted butter  2 tablespoon unsulphered molasses  2 teaspoon ground cinnamon  1 teaspoon ground nutmeg  1 teaspoon ground ginger  ½ teaspoon ground cloves 

Instructions

• Heat pan on medium heat. 
• Combine all ingredients and whisk until incorporated. 
• Generously butter pan, and then using a ¼ cup, drop pancake batter onto hot griddle. When bubbles start to form on top of pancakes, gently flip them over, being careful of any splatter. Allow them to golden up a bit on the bottom as well, about 30 more seconds, and then remove. Repeat with remaining batter. 
• For the glaze: melt 2 tablespoon butter. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm pancakes and serve immediately. Enjoy! 

Notes

You can easily make this recipe gluten free by replacing the all purpose flour with bobs red mill 1:1 gluten free baking flour, and dairy free by replacing the butter with a plant based alternative. 

Calories listed are approximations only and should not be used for strict daily caloric calculations.