Candy Cane Pancakes

Start the holidays right with these delicious Candy Cane Pancakes! These colorful pancakes are flavored with crushed candy cane, and topped with whipped cream and more candy cane bits.

There are few things more exciting than waking up Christmas morning and opening your presents. But why should the fun stop there? These Christmas pancakes will keep things festive through breakfast too.

this recipe

What are Candy Cane Pancakes

This pancake recipes makes for a festive Christmas morning breakfast by adding a little color and crushed peppermint (most candy canes are peppermint-flavored) to your morning pancakes.

The result is a unique and beautiful peppermint pancake, perfect for the holiday season.

What if you don’t like peppermint

Then, this recipe is probably not for you. Don’t worry though, on the opposite side of the holiday pancake spectrum are these Gingerbread Pancakes. Alternatively, go with something sweet like this baked strawberry French toast.

Ingredients

• Egg
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Milk (I recommend whole milk)
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Vegetable oil
• Candy cane, crushed
• Red food coloring
• Heavy cream
• Powdered sugar

How to make candy cane pancakes

Making these candy cane pancakes is not too different from most pancake recipes. What sets it apart is the inclusion of crushed candy canes, as well as the colored pancakes.

We’ll start by making the pancake batter – in a large bowl, mix the egg, sugar, vanilla extract, milk, flour, baking powder, vegetable oil, and salt together until barely incorporated. Then fold in some crushed candy cane bits.

Separate about half the pancake batter into a different bowl, and mix in the red food color. You should now have a bowl of white pancake batter, and a bowl of red pancake batter. Set the batter aside in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Time to cook your pancakes. Add about a quarter cup of batter to a pan over medium heat or a hot griddle. Let the batter cook until bubbles begin to form on the top, turn it over and allow the bottom to cook through (for the white pancakes, you’re looking for golden brown outsides). Repeat with the remaining pancake batter, doing your best to make pancakes of the same size. 

Prepare the sweetened whipped cream by vigorously mixing the heavy cream and powdered sugar together in a bowl. I use a handheld electric whisk to make this easy for myself.

Stack up your cooked pancakes on a plate – alternating colors of effect, and top with your whipped cream, and some more crushed candy canes or holiday sweets (I added some green sugar balls because I think they’re pretty). Enjoy!

Tips

All your standard pancake tips apply here. However, as we’ve filled the pancakes with crushed candy canes, our focus is not creating incredibly fluffy pancakes (though they will still be relatively fluffy), but rather creating tasty and cohesive pancakes that fit our holiday theme.

Don’t crush your candy cane too fine

While you want candy cane that’s crushed finely enough to easily mix into batter and eat. You don’t need to crush to the point that you’re turning it into dust. If it’s too finely crushed, the candy cane may actually burn a little while you’re cooking the pancakes.

Don’t over-mix

Pancake batter is notoriously easy to over-mix (leading to dense, thin pancakes). While these pancakes have the added candy cane element, do your best to mix them as little as possible. You want the batter to be thick and just incorporated. 

Let the batter rest

Make sure to let the batter rest in the fridge for at least ten minutes. I often leave it for longer while I prepare the whipped cream…or even make myself a cup of coffee.

Even pancakes

Using the same amount of batter for each pancake is the best way to create even pancakes. I suggest using a quarter cup measure per pancake.

How to present your pancakes

Once you’ve prepare your red and white peppermint pancakes, simply stack them in alternate fashion. If your pancakes aren’t all the same size, start with the largest pancake at the bottom and then stack each smaller pancake on top.

Variation ideas

More peppermint. If you really love the peppermint flavor, you can up the ante by adding a teaspoon of peppermint extract to your pancake batter. 

Fun with colors. While I’ve gone with white and red pancakes, you can easily use a different food color. Green is the first one that comes to mind! 

Chocolate peppermint combo. Chocolate and peppermint is a great combination. If you want to add some chocolate to this recipe, I recommend sprinkling some dark chocolate chips to your pancakes while they’re cooking.

Different types of candy cane. Most candy cane is peppermint flavored. However, if you’d like to make this recipe using of the other varieties available, it will work! 

Holiday decorations. I heard someone once say that the first bite is with your eyes. So to enhance the holiday flavor of these pancakes, feel free to decorate them more.