Pancakes are a favorite breakfast item in my house.  They even make an appearance for dinner every now and then too.  Breakfast for dinner anyone?  Yes please!  I grew up having the occasional breakfast for dinner nights and I am continuing that now with my own family.  My daughter is the biggest fan of what is fondly known as Brinner.  Our brinner menu lineup is typically pancakes and bacon and eggs, oh my!

Lately my daughter has been on a pancake breakfast gorge.  I’ve been trying to get her off it a little since there are certainly healthier options to eat, but who could blame her really?  I could eat pancakes every morning myself too.  So when she asked for brinner one day after a second straight week of pancakes for breakfast I knew I had to come up with a healthier option.

I had whole wheat flour on hand and decided that was half the battle toward making a healthier pancake for dinner.  Since dinner would require prepping more food than the typical breakfast I decided to bake them instead and free up some time and stove space.  Besides that I knew I was going to be juggling 2 kids during dinner prep and wouldn’t want to risk missing to flip a pancake and dinner becoming a burned flop.

 

Whole Wheat Pancake Poppers with Agave

Ingredients:  1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 overflowing tbsp agave.  Diced fresh berries or chocolate chips optional.

Directions: preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray mini muffin pan with baking spray.  Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.  Beat egg in a medium bowl and add milk, vanilla and agave.  Add wet mixture to dry mixture and whisk until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.  It may look a little lumpy or thick and that’s ok.  Spoon about a tablespoon into each mini muffin tin.  Top as you like with berries or chocolate.  I used mini chocolate chips and left some plain.  Bake for 11 minutes.  Serve hot with butter and real maple syrup.  Recipe makes 24 mini pancake poppers.

 

These were a hit for my daughter to eat with her hands and surprisingly she liked them plain.  I am going to make them this way more often now as they are a much easier preparation and even more fun to enjoy!