Cannoli Pancakes are my new favorite way to enjoy pancakes! I mean, who wouldn’t want a fluffy chocolate chip pancake that is filled with a creamy, ricotta filling? I certainly can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like this. Hold the syrup because you don’t need it for these dessert-like pancakes! These yummy pancakes are sweet inside and out!
Of course one of the best parts of the cannoli pancakes is the cannoli filling. That’s a given. However, the fluffiness of the pancakes makes a HUGE difference in presentation and taste. Having a fluffy pancake allows for the pancake to fold over to resemble a cannoli. If your pancakes are thin or stiff, it will be extremely difficult to fold them over and have them stay. You need to have them folded in order to really experience these cannoli pancakes after all and that’s where the taste becomes a huge factor!
Fluffier Pancake
You could just follow the recipe for the cannoli filling and stuff any regular pancake. And you would be fine. In fact, you would be satisfied from eating a yummy breakfast like that. However, if you are making pancakes, wouldn’t you prefer a light and fluffy one that tastes delicious? If you are like me, then, yes, that’s the constant challenge. I’m sharing with you an amazing recipe that brings pancakes like that to existence!
One trick is to add some white vinegar to your milk to ‘sour’ it up. It will need to sit for a good 10 minutes. Don’t worry, you won’t be eating sour milk pancakes. You won’t get sick and you certainly won’t taste the sourness of the vinegar. You will see some bubbling with the milk from the vinegar and that’s where the magic happens!
Another trick to making fluffy pancakes is not over mixing the wet and dry ingredients. Yes, you need to mix them thoroughly so that there are no dry spots in the pancake mixture. However, once you mix everything together, put the whisk down. I repeat, put the whisk down! And let the mixture to sit for a good 10 minutes. Overly mixing the batter will make it watery, you want the batter to be on the thicker side so that it can cook in a fluffy way – the result will be fluffier pancakes!
Pancakes!
One of the best things about making pancakes is that they cook quickly! One of the annoying things about making pancakes is that they cook quickly! The reason I say it can be annoying is that when you are cooking for a big group (like my house!), you have to make 30 pancakes to feed everyone. And, honestly, if my kids had their way, they would want me to make 50 pancakes. They have the biggest appetites when it comes to desserts or dessert-like foods, it’s borderline ridiculous.
Cooking The Pancakes
Thankfully, pancakes only take a few minutes to cook so even if I do make 30 pancakes with my super duper griddle for large families, I don’t have to slave over the stove for very long. And I just make sure to give the kids the first cooked pancakes so that I can enjoy the ones towards the end that are still warm. Ha, who am I kidding, by the time I get them all their plated breakfasts my pancakes will be cold…just like every other meal I eat!
When making the cannoli pancakes, spoon a small circle of batter on to a lightly greased frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Make sure the heat isn’t too high. You don’t want burnt pancakes. As the batter begins to cook, add a a few mini chocolate chips to each pancake. Let the pancakes cook for a couple of minutes. Don’t get overzealous and try to flip them too soon. I am guilty of that sometimes and then I yell at myself! Wait for bubbles to form in the pancakes and then give it another 10 – 20 more seconds (to be sure that they are ready) and then using a spatula, flip each pancake. Once flipped, give them a few more minutes of cooking time before setting them aside on a warm plate. Repeat the process until the cannoli pancake batter has been cooked completely.
Making The Cannoli Dip
If you have ever made homemade whipped cream, you won’t have a problem with making the canoli dip for the chocolate chip canoli pancakes. You will need:
- Heavy Cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Ricotta Cheese
- Mini Chocolate Chips
Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a bowl and with a hand mixer, mix ingredients until they form stiff peaks (just like making whipped cream). Next, by hand, add in the ricotta cheese and mini chocolate chips so that they are fully incorporated in the creamy filling. It takes about 5 minutes and it’s that easy. For such a yummy recipe, it sure is easy to make!
Creating A Masterpiece
So you have mastered the cannoli filling. That was really easy. And you made the fluffiest pancakes ever which has you patting yourself on your back and rightly so. Now, comes the moment of truth. Combining the chocolate chip canoli pancakes with the canoli filling. Is your mouth watering? Mine is!
Put the chocolate chip side face down on a plate. Spoon on some cannoli filling to one half of a pancake. Then, fold over the non-filling side so that it resembles a yummy taco-like shell. This is how you make a cannoli pancake! Congratulations, you perfected this and what a masterpiece you created. All that is left is to dig in and E-A-T! You could dust some powdered sugar on top to make it look extraordinarily delicious! As you can see from my pictures, I did not do that. No time! I needed to eat! Maybe next time…
More Breakfast Options
Cinnamon Roll French Toast Bake
Creamy Dishes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie
Cannoli Pancakes
Ingredients
Fluffy Pancakes
- 3 cups Milk
- 8 tbsp White Vinegar
- 4 cups Flour
- 8 tbsp Sugar
- 4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 4 Eggs
- 8 tbsp Butter melted
- 4 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips
Canoli Filling
- 2 cups Heavy Cream
- 1/3 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 pinch Nutmeg
- 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
- 1.5 cups Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Making The Cannoli Filling
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together heavy cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in riccotta cheese and mini chocolate chips. Set aside until pancakes are cooked.
Fluffy Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Combine milk and vinegar and stir lightly to mix. Let sit for 10 minutes to "sour". This will not actually taste sour, it's to help with the fluffiness!
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk the "soured" milk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter together.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together until most of the lumps are gone. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick, don't add any more liquid. Let the batter sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Do not stir at all.
- Gently spoon out the batter onto a lightly greased frying pan or griddle.
- Add a few mini choc chips to each pancake as they are cooking.
- Cook until bubbles appear on the pancakes and then flip with a spatula to lightly brown the other side. I did not add chocolate chips to both sides of the pancakes, just one side for effect +the cannoli filling has them in them!
- Once pancakes are cooked, spread some cannoli filling on one half (non-choc chip side) of the pancake and gently fold the pancake over to create the cannoli "shell".
- ENJOY!
