Our Fluffy Birthday Pancakes

by Cristina | Last Updated: December 3, 2021

Fluffy Birthday Pancakes- yum!

True story, in our house we believe that a birthday simply cannot be a birthday unless we have had our Fluffy Birthday Pancakes. Long long ago, when we had just had our first little baby (Hi, Blake!), we started making these pancakes on cozy Sunday mornings.

The days of boozy brunch were behind us, and we couldn’t bare the thought of wearing pants. The baby phase was kicking our butts. So we needed to bring the brunch to us.

I originally found the recipe in Cooking Light, but made a few changes. The original recipe called for whole wheat flour. We used whole wheat flour a few times, and still use it, if I have it. But I usually just have all purpose flour at our house, and I’m a big believer in using whatever you have.

Soon enough there were more kids. So there were more pancakes. They started to become special requests on every birthday. Now it’s become our little tradition. I love it. Don’t get me wrong. Most days we are a strictly Eggo Waffle breakfast kind of family. But every now and then we do it a little special.

But is it easy?

Yes! Like most of the recipes I put up here, our Fluffy Birthday Pancakes, are pretty easy to do and doesn’t require anything you probably don’t already have on hand.

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It’s also the kind of recipe that will allow you to find easy substitutions for. For example, Fluffy Birthday Pancakes usually have buttermilk in them, but we have made them plenty of times using regular 2% milk (which is what we had on hand). If you are going to make a substitution like this, just keep in mind that you may need less milk than what the recipe calls for. You don’t want the batter to be too runny so play it by ear.

I don’t have a fancy pancake griddle, or anything professional really. We just use THIS regular pan (may have gotten it at Publix) and a spatula for flipping. As a little side note while writing this article, I did find a few good Pancake Pans on Amazon that are pretty reasonable (for anyone looking). Look at THIS one or THIS one.

Thanks to Sara Blakely, we did go through a little stage of making shapes with the pancakes using THIS condiment bottle. You just have to fill the bottle up with the batter. Then you can draw a shape on the pan and fill it in. It takes a little practice, but it isn’t as hard as you would think. I even made a dinosaur once (it was sort of a dinosaur if you squint your eyes and looked really fast).

Now let’s make some Fluffy Pancakes, shall we…

What You Need to Make Fluffy Pancakes

• 1 ½ cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 ½ cups butter milk 
• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• Cooking spray

How to Make the Fluffy Pancakes

The secret to good fluffy pancakes is twofold. The first part is making sure you mix your batter well. No bumps. If you are using milk instead of buttermilk don’t make it too runny. If not it won’t hold together on the pan. The second part is knowing when to flip. We will get to that. Let’s start with the batter.

1. In a medium mixing bowl put in your dry ingredients. This means your flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In a separate bowl combien your buttermilk and eggs. Then combine the milk and egg mixture into your dry bowl. Mix well until all the bumps are out.
2. Look at the batter, is it too thick or too runny? If it’s too thick carefully add a little more of the buttermilk or milk. If it is too runny you can put very little flour into the mixture to thicken it back up.
3. Turn on the heat to medium high and let the pan get hot. Lower to medium and pour in your first pancake.

You want to pour it until the pancake has formed a circle. The more you pour, the bigger your circle will get. It is completely up to you.

Remember your first pancake will either be too light or too dark. There is rarely an in between. Traditionally, the pancake is the one you use to help guide you and show you how to adjust your heat.

4. You want to keep the pancake cooking on the first side for a couple of minutes. You will know the pancake is ready to be flipped when there are bubbles all over the first side.

5. Flip the pancake quickly. This side doesn’t need as long to cook. Just give it a minute or two, and then move it to the side of the pan for another minute just to be sure. You can tell the pancake is done by using your fingers and gently touching the middle. If it is done it will be fluffy and have a little bounce. If it is not done you will be able to feel the batter.

6. Stack your fluffy pancakes and enjoy!