The males in my house LOVE pancakes. My husband, Jason, is something of a pancake connoisseur and he is training our boys in his likeness. They would have them every day – or at least every weekend day – if I let them.

We occasionally order breakfast out, but I prefer to make pancakes myself – portion size is better, we use real maple syrup (no temptation to use the fake stuff that restaurants serve) and it’s definitely cheaper to make them at home! The catch, I don’t always feel like standing in front of a hot stove flippin’ flapjacks. So, on those days, I make pancake muffins.

This workhorse recipe is clutch – there’s an ENDLESS variety of toppings you can customize to suit the tastes of your family and guests. At our house, the boys love them with chocolate chips, fresh blueberries or both and I like mine sprinkled with my homemade granola. I’ve also glazed them when I have extra citrus fruit around, using zest and juice to flavor a quick icing. They freeze beautifully and are unbeatable for a grab and go breakfast – just heat a couple directly from the freezer for ~30 seconds. And if your favorite thing about pancakes is the syrup, these are completely dunkable … just serve with a small side dish of syrup.

Pantry Staple Pro Tip

Jason loves buttermilk pancakes, so this recipe is adapted from a basic buttermilk pancake recipe. There’s a bit less liquid and a bit more sugar than a standard pancake recipe. And since I don’t usually have buttermilk on hand, I often turn buttermilk powder (a.k.a. my favorite pantry staple). The batter is a bit looser when using the buttermilk powder, but the muffins still bake up nice and tender. If you don’t have buttermilk or buttermilk powder, you can add a scant Tbsp. of lemon juice to the same amount of milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to thicken before whisking together with the other wet ingredients.

Give pancake muffins a try. I’m betting they’ll make it into your weekend breakfast rotation, too.

Pancake Muffins (Makes 18 muffins)

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/3 c. buttermilk (or 5 Tbsp. buttermilk powder and 1 1/3 c. water. See note*)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• Muffin toppings of choice (such as fresh or frozen blueberries, chopped bananas and/or nuts, granola, etc.)
• Ground cinnamon for sprinklin’

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease 18 muffin cups (from two 12-cup muffin tins). Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Separately, whisk together the wet ingredients. (*Note: If using buttermilk powder, add the powder to the dry ingredients and add the water to the wet ingredients.) Add the wet mix to the dry and stir to combine. Don’t overmix. You just need the ingredients to come together with no big lumps.

Scoop batter into greased muffin tins, filling each muffin cup 2/3 full. You should be able to fill 18 muffin cups. Top each muffin with ~1-2 tsp. of topping: e.g. 5 or 6 blueberries and/or chocolate chips, etc., will do the trick. Resist the urge to overload them! Dust the tops of the muffins with cinnamon. Bake in preheated oven for 10-11 minutes. Serve on their own or with a small side of syrup.

Yummy yum!