Portable Pancake Pocket Recipe
As a magazine junkie, I subscribe to Cooking Light. In one of the summer issues this year, I came across what they called, “Inside Out Pancakes!”. Although their filling inside the pancake was basically a clump of brown sugar, I knew I wanted to try them with fruit. So in keeping with our Fourth of July theme this week, we decided to use strawberries and blueberries to fill some pocket pancakes. You can follow all our ideas for a healthy Fourth of July using the hashtag #healthyfourth on our Facebook, pinterest, or instagram pages.
Why portable pancakes? Many of you get up early on the Fourth of July to catch some local parades! You can make these pancakes the night before, keep them in the fridge, and carry them with you to eat while you are waiting for the parade. They are also perfect for road trips! With your berry filling, there is no need to use sweetened syrup. And because they can be eaten without a fork or plate, they are perfect for on the road or on the go.
The first thing we did was watch this video for help:
While it seemed simple enough, it actually took me several failed attempts and playing with the consistency of our batter to get it just right. Once we got it down though, my 13 year old Erica actually made them all. She got very good at it! And then she promptly ate them all! We’re big fans of pancakes and fruit at our house.
Portable Pancake Pocket Recipe
The Steps:
- We first mixed up our batter. We used our standard pancake mix recipe. This pancake mix stays in our pantry at all times. It beats purchasing pancake mix from the store and we always have some.
- Then, we chopped up some strawberries and blueberries very finely. I actually used a food processor and pulsed rather quickly to cut them up, without pulverizing it.
- Then, we poured 1 tablespoon of pancake mix onto a heated and well greased skillet. You can then spread the mix out a bit to thin it out, so your pancakes aren’t too puffy at the end.
- Then, we scooped a spoonful of berries to the center, and spread them out as best we could.
- Then (this is the hardest part), drizzle the batter over the berries. No need to pile another clump of batter on, simple drizzle to cover them up! (watch the video for the demonstration here).
- Then, flip the pancake to cook the other side!
Mmmmmm… wouldn’t you want these while you are waiting for a parade to start! So fresh and delicious!
We’d love to see you get creative with other fillings! We, of course, love berries for this, as berries are super healthy food to include in your kids’ diet. Both strawberries and blueberries are high in antioxidants and phytochemicals that protect those little bodies from damage, stress, and inflammation. I tried it with some cottage cheese, since we enjoy cottage cheese on TOP of our pancake, but it was a bit difficult to work with, and kind of runny. What fillings will you try?
For the homemade pancake mix, go here:
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Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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Cooked apple would be amazing inside of pancakes or, peaches, mango, cherries, raspberries would also be really yummy. I’ll be making these for our road trip here in a couple weeks.
That looks amazing! I will try them today… can you freeze them?
Ricotta with fruit (peaches, blueberries, etc).
Bananas and pecans!
We just made them for the first time this weekend Cynthia- so I haven’t tried freezing them. Let us know if you do though!
With chocolate chips!
Nutella!
I recently put a bunch of frozen strawberries through the blender to use in my yogurt. If I let them thaw out, they should be the perfect texture and size for this! Thanks!
Question: Just 1 tablespoon batter or 3 teaspoons? Seems like that would be difficult to spread into a large enough area for the fruit. Please let me know if it is a true tablespoon or if that spoon in the picture is a larger mixing type spoon. Thanks. 🙂
Hi Margaret- That white spoon is a measuring spoon equal to one tablespoon. So, yes, that is all we used for the bottom, and then one tablespoon for the top. The batter spread out enough to be the size of the pancakes you see above.
Thanks, I plan to make these. I make a pancake mix using oatmeal flour made by putting old fashioned oatmeal into a blender. Hope it will work with the fruit in the center. Great idea! I plan to freeze mine and then thaw and toast them.
perfect Jen!
These look so yummy. Were going on a long camping weekend for the 4th. I will be making these to take with us for an easy breakfast. I think I’ll be filling them with strawberries and maybe peaches or bananas and chocolate chips.
Thanks so much for the idea!
I wonder how a dab of cream cheese inside along with the fruit would work out? They look so yummy!
Mmm.. Lori- that sounds delicious. I tried cottage cheese and I think it was too runny, but cream cheese might be perfect!
What is the white stuff in the container?
It was yogurt. We used it for dipping.
Omg, yes! BRILLIANT idea! I am soooo getting some ricotta next grocery trip. Thanks! Would have never thought of that
So you want me to give my child sugar the first thing in the morning? Not smart or balanced breakfast, definitely not nutritious! We can do better.
I don’t see anything about sugar
Saniel, if you are talking about the fruit, berries are very low on the hypoglycemic index. This is a much better option than the normal syrup you would add to your pancakes. Plus with the amount of fruit you are adding to the pancakes it not that much.
They also have strawberry cream cheese which would be perfect
Have you tried freezing and reheating these? Always on the go and looking for healthy, tasty, breakfast ideas for my kiddo. There isn’t any space for a microwave in our tiny kitchen. Reheating is done in the toaster oven. Thank you!
I got wjat you ?ntend, appreciate it for puttijg up.W?h I am
glad to find this website through goo?le. “No one can earn a million dollars honestly.”
by William Jenn?ngs Br?an.
I haven’t tried it @Jenna- I would think, as long as you just have fruit in there, it would freeze and reheat fine. If you added things like cream cheese or cottage cheese, maybe not!
Do these have to be kept refrigerated throughout the day? For example, if we go on a trip and I don’t give them to my daughter right away, should I keep them in a cooler until consumption?
yes Sara- I’d refrigerate this. The fruit inside would grow bacteria if left out.
If you freeze a small log of crm chz, cut off a slice, then into small chunks, it’s much easier to work with, by sprinking on with berries.
My HS son heads out really early – portable food is awesome. Trying these tomorrow morning with bacon, with sausage and maybe a dribble of syrup. Mmm! Thanks for the brilliant post!
I freeze pancakes all the time for the grandkids to snake on when they get hungry, and they love them.. I am sure these would freeze good too.. I am going to try these..
put your cottage cheese in a strainer over a bowl and drain it before adding to pancakes. Also another thing to easily drizzle is put pancake mix in a squeeze bottle
I tried these with your strawberry cream cheese this morning. Yum! I thinned the cheese with apple sauce, 50/50. Worked perfectly!
I bet a bit of ricotta cheese inside would be wonderful and have a better consistency than the cottage cheese.
wow, i juts ate and now i am hungry again…it looks amazing
I can’t to try these! I’m thinking banana and peanut butter!!
Im going to try this in the waffle iron! Wonderful idea, thanks for sharing.
Just loved it.. Its mango season in India..I am planning to fill the pancakes with mango pieces and severing them topped with yogurt and mango sauce..yumm..cant wait to make them.
I saw something similar this week on another site however they baked them in muffin trays and froze them for school lunch boxes, going to give them a go, make a lot more at once this way.
Cream cheese & Guava!
Have you tried bananas and chocolate chips or nutella?
Hi Amy! We haven’t tried those combos specifically, but I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be delicious!