Description
Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes are melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk pancakes stuffed with a no-bake cheesecake filling, then stacked and topped with chunky homemade strawberry syrup, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries. Once you make this Cracker Barrel Cheesecake Pancakes Copycat recipe at home, you'll never look back!
Ingredients
Strawberry Syrup:
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries, diced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cheesecake Filling:
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Pancakes:
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute)
• 1/4 cup whole milk (maybe a little more to thin the bater)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
Toppings:
• Fresh chopped strawberries
• Real Whipped Cream (made fresh or Redi-Whip)
Instructions
Strawberry Syrup:
Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a gentle simmer until the strawberries are soft and the syrup is thickened and reduced by ⅓ to ½ in volume, approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Syrup will thicken upon standing so simply whisk in more water to reached desired consistency if needed.
Cheesecake filling:
In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), pour the whipped cream in and beat on high until stiff peaks form (around one minute for me). In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and mix until completely smooth and creamy.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and stir until completely combined and creamy. Chill until ready to assemble the pancakes.
Pancakes:
First, add the buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter to a large mixing bowl, then use a hand mixer to mix until well combined (about one minute on high).
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Next add the dry ingredients to the liquid mixture - mix until the batter is smooth! It will be thick, but that's okay. If it’s too thick to spread on your griddle, add small amounts of milk and mix again until you get a good consistency.
Ladle the batter onto a hot griddle (I set mine to 350°), flipping when the edges start to bubble. You will want the pancakes to be around 5 inches when finished (although the flavor will be the same no matter the size… delicious!).
Assemble the pancakes:
If you want them to look like the Cracker Barrel dish, lay two warm pancakes on a plate and spoon around ½ cup of cheesecake mixture onto one-half of each pancake. Fold it over (sort of like a taco shape), then top it with strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream.
OR you can make a beautiful stack of pancakes by layering a pancake, cheesecake filling, then strawberry syrup. Repeat these layers, then top with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
Notes
- Don't overmix the pancake batter! Mix it just until combined to have the fluffiest, best-textured pancakes! Overmixing can lead to tough, rubbery pancakes.
- Use a nonstick pan or griddle. If you don't have a nonstick pan, grease your pan really well with nonstick cooking spray or butter before cooking your pancakes.
- Don't forget to let the batter rest for 5-10 minutes! Again - this gives your pancakes the best texture!
- Since we don't have the official cracker barrel pancake recipe, you can use my recipe or if you have a favorite pancake recipe, feel free to swap it out and use your recipe. Another option is you could make pancakes from a baking mix. You could even use frozen pancakes or waffles if you really wanted to save time but they will not be as good - promise!
- Use a measuring cup to scoop out your batter so that you ensure each pancake is the same size and cooks evenly.
- Be patient when flipping: It can be tempting to flip the pancakes too early, but patience is key. Wait until you see bubbles forming on the surface of the pancake before flipping it. This ensures that the pancake is cooked enough to hold its shape and not raw in the middle.
- This recipe makes about 8-10 pancakes so if you are serving more than 3 or 4 people, you may want to double or triple it.
- I do not encourage this, but you could skip the homemade strawberry syrup and you could use store-bought strawberry syrup or you could melt some jam in the microwave if you like. Microwave in 10-second intervals, stirring in between until you get a liquid/syrup.
- Use a large, thin spatula to flip the pancakes so they don't break and you can get under them easily.
- Add the cheesecake filling generously: The more cheesecake filling you add, the more decadent and delicious your pancakes will be. Don't be afraid to be generous with the filling. After all, it's the star of the show! Double the cheesecake recipe when in doubt!
- Keep the pancakes warm: To prevent your pancakes from getting cold while you cook the remaining batches, place them on a baking sheet in a warm oven (around 200°F) until you're ready to serve. They will also break instead of fold if they cool too much - in this case, make a stack instead of the filled taco shapes.
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Griddle
- Cuisine: American
