Mini pancake bites with 4 different toppings – perfect party food

“Do you want these mini pancakes? No one’s going to eat them” mum said to me one day. I’ve been staying at my boyfriend’s house lately and mum felt compelled to give me food whenever I was over for dinner. She probably thinks we’re unable to fend for ourselves without some form of help and as a parent she had the duty to do so. That was after taking a whole bag full of other groceries she wanted to offload to me.

For some reason mum bought this big pack of mini pancakes from Costco but realised no one was going to eat them at home and I have a habit of not being able to refuse food when it’s offered to me. So, as a result, Yuye and I had these pancake bites for 2 meals last week.

There are so many names for thin batter cakes – pancakes, pikelets, crumpets, blinis, crepes…did I miss any? The packaging said they were blinis but I thought they were more like mini pancakes which is what I called them. They are perfect as party food or as an afternoon snack (or as a meal if you had that many to finish like me). They are also so versatile that you can practically put anything on them whether it be sweet or savoury. I just used whatever I had in the fridge.

When I realised the cherry tomatoes and zucchini pieces fit perfectly on the mini pancakes I grinned from ear to ear. I was like a child who had just realised the triangle piece from the toy set actually fit into the triangular hole and I was putting more on the pancake just so I could grin some more. I know, the smallest things amuse me.

The pack came with 65 mini pancakes or you can make your own using a pancake recipe and making them small enough to be bite sized (but then there’s no guarantee that the cherry tomatoes and zucchinis will fit exactly. :P)

I enjoyed these bites with a glass of apple cider I purchased from my recent Daylesford trip. These are non-fizzy which make them very easy to drink and they’re not as sweet as most ciders. I will write more about these when I post about the trip soon.

Mini pancake bites with 4 different toppings

Each recipe makes roughly 20-25 bites

Topping 1 – smoked salmon with tomato and cream cheese

Ingredients

– 20-25 mini pancakes
– a few pieces of smoked salmon
– 4 to 5 cherry tomatoes
– cream cheese
– salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Assemble with cream cheese, tomato then salmon and season to taste.

Topping 2 – canned tuna and sun-dried tomatoes

Ingredients

– 20-25 mini pancakes
– 2 cans tuna (I used chilli flavour but any flavour can be used)
– 5-6 pieces of sun dried tomatoes
– coriander for garnish
– salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Roughly chop sun dried tomatoes and mix well with tuna
2. Assemble onto mini pancake. If you used tuna in chilli oil, pour some chilli oil on top or can top with chilli flakes, else top with some olive oil so it’s not as dry.
3. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Topping 3 – baked zucchini with cream cheese

Ingredients

– 20-25 mini pancakes
– 1 medium zucchini (cut into rounds)
– garlic, finely chopped
– cooking oil
– cream cheese
– salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Top zucchini pieces with oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper then bake for roughly 10-15 minutes or until cooked through.
2. Assemble with cream cheese zucchini and then season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Topping 4 – beetroot relish with cream cheese

Ingredients

– 20-25 mini pancakes
– beetroot relish (or canned beetroot can be used as well)
– cream cheese

Instructions

This one is pretty self explanatory – just spread cream cheese and then top with beetroot relish or chopped beetroot. This one is sweet compared to the others.

I thought of a few alternatives that I could have made but didn’t have the time or ingredients to:

– caramelised onion with goats cheese and figs
– some sort of other poached fruit, like apple or pear and honey
– potato salad
– strawberries (or any berries) with chocolate topping
– crispy skin pork

The list can go on and on.

Question time: What topping would you have with these mini pancake bites?