This recipe is decadent and delicious, but also very versatile. You control the ingredients, as well as just how “homemade” you want it to be! This will make about 6-8+ “stacks” depending on what you use and how much. It is easily doubled, or make gigantic pancakes to rival a restaurant breakfast! Of course, it’s far more frugal than going out to eat if say…oh I don’t know, a certain pregnant person gets a hankering for one!
You will need:
Your favorite pancake recipe
Vanilla Pudding
Cream Cheese
Bananas, Canned Pie Filling or your favorite fruit
Cool Whip, Reddi Whip or homemade whipped cream (Heavy Cream, granulated sugar & vanilla extract)
For the filling:
Mix equal amounts of prepared vanilla pudding (or get fancy with banana or another flavor) and softened cream cheese. You can use an instant mix, sugar free mix, organic mix or your favorite recipe.
An 8 oz block of cream cheese is about one cup, and most pudding mixes/recipes make two cups. Using one cup of pudding and one block of cream cheese is plenty! I used 2 cups/2 blocks and ended up with well over 4 cups of filling. We will see how it does frozen/thawed!!
Once your cream cheese is softened, beat it in a bowl with your mixer until smooth. Add pudding and beat until combined and smooth.
For the fruit topping:
Use sliced bananas, fresh fruit, or canned pie filling. I like to make my own apple pie filling.
Apple pie filling:
Makes about 3 cups of filling
Heat 3T unsalted butter in a large skillet until sizzling & fragrant
Add 7 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples cut into chunks, and toss with butter
Cover and cook about 7 minutes, until mostly soft
Add 3/4 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp salt & 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Combine, bring to a boil & cook until thickened (about 3-5 minutes)
Spread on a cookie sheet to cool
You can use your favorite pancake recipe or even a mix.
My favorite buttermilk pancake recipe:
This makes about 12 pancakes, I usually double this recipe so I have some to freeze!
Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3T sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together in another bowl:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or combine 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 1/2 T white vinegar, allow to sit until it looks curdled)
3T melted unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk together until just combined.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle, cook until the top is speckled with bubbles and some bubbles have popped, then turn until the underside is lightly browned. You can keep these warm in a stack in the oven while you make the rest!
If you want to be fancy & you’re using bananas as your fruit topping, slice bananas and put them on the pancake batter after you’ve poured it on the griddle, but before it has completely set/is ready to turn over.
To assemble:
Place 1 pancake on a plate. Spread with about 1/8-1/4 cup of vanilla cream cheese mixture, depending on your tastes and the size of the pancake (you can put additional fruit here too if you like!), then top with another pancake.
Add about 1/8-1/4 cup of fruit topping, then top with whipped cream. You can add a sprinkle of powdered sugar too if you like!
Here is my whipped cream recipe:
In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters, beat 1 cup cold heavy cream until thickened. Add 2T sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla and beat until desired consistency.
You can make the filling ahead of time, warm canned pie filling, use cool whip and a pancake mix to make an impressive breakfast in no time for guests, or make it all from scratch for a real treat for your family!!
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 11, 7 and 4 year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. Check out Maria’s blog, Change-Diapers, about cloth diapering, and all things kids, motherhood & going green.
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