I may be a bigger fan of maple than most people, which is surely biasing my opinion here, but these little maple bacon pancake bites are so bomb. Oh, and they’re super easy to make, too. Using the shortcut of a little premixed pancake mix helps cut the time on this recipe to about 30 minutes or so, including baking time.
Additionally, these little pancake nibblets are mostly ricotta, which if you’ve been here before, you know I use A LOT. It’s one of those super useful ingredients that makes things creamy, rich, and in this case, lower in carbs and calories than traditional pancakes. And perfectly portion-sized! The trick is that it’s mostly ricotta with eggs and pancake mix to bind it all together. Do you know what else that means? It’s so rich-tasting and not at all dry. Heaven.
I added some cinnamon, both vanilla and maple extract, and of course, crispy diced bacon. Then I doused it all in yet more maple syrup because I luuurve it. My one regret: I only made a dozen of these little guys. I may run out and snag more ricotta to make another batch, otherwise nobody else will get any.
Ingredients
- 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese, drained
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 1/2 cup multigrain pancake mix
- 3 slices of turkey (or regular) bacon, baked until crispy and finely diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Spray mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.
- Whisk the eggs and mix together with the ricotta, extracts, egg, and cinnamon.
- Sift (or slowly mix) the pancake mix into the ricotta mixture.
- Fold in the diced bacon pieces.
- Divide into your muffin tin, making sure to fill them almost all the way to the top.
- Sprinkle each muffin with a few bacon bits and bake for 18 minutes.
- Let cool before removing from the muffin pan.
- Enjoy with a drizzle (or a lot!) of your favorite maple syrup. These can be re-warmed up in the microwave, but they are also amazing cold.
Catherine Clark is a Chicago native sharing noteworthy things she sees and attempts to make in the world. She's a geek, cat lady, designer and editor by day, and noob chef by night.
Awesome! Can I use maple syrup instead of maple extract?
I think so. I’d probably double the amount to get the same intensity level. 🙂