I Put the "Cake" Back in Pancake {Pancake Cupcakes}

I am not religious- except when it comes to pancakes. So when I heard it was Shrove Tuesday (AKA Pancake Tuesday) I decided pancakes were on the menu for dinner! But I had just had pancakes on Sunday and I wasn't really in a pancake-y mood. I thought to myself "what could make pancakes better?". I kind of wanted waffles, but I don't have a waffle iron.  And then it hit me- Pancake Cupcakes!!

I didn't know if it was even possible to make pancake cupcakes, but a quick Google search assured me at least a couple of people had attempted this and succeeded! I used this recipe by Brown Eyed Baker, but I cut it in half because I am one person, not a pancake-eating machine (multiple pancake eating contests as a child proved this point). It made about 7-8 small cupcakes (probably 6 in a normal cupcake tin).

Full Recipe From Brown Eyed Baker:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups whole milk
2 eggs
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with liners and then spray the liners with non-stick spray (important step!).
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a separate medium bowl whisk together the milk and eggs, then stir in the melted and cooled butter. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together until just moistened and combined. Like pancakes, lumps are okay! Divide the batter between the muffin cups and bake until puffed and firm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: when I was measuring out my butter, this happened:

Yup, I broke my metal tablespoon while measuring butter. Which makes me think that they need to rethink the phrase "cuts like butter", because clearly butter is lethal (to measuring spoons). Or at least the really old butter I got from the back of my fridge is lethal.

Anyways, broken tablespoons aside, I forged ahead and loaded my batter into the cupcake maker and crossed my fingers!

Yes, I have a cupcake maker. I got it for Christmas and it is actually pretty awesome. This was it's maiden voyage into making cupcakes for me!

7 minutes later- I opened it and found this:

6 perfect-looking pancake cupcakes! Oh my goodness it worked!

I wasn't going to make icing for them, because these are my dinner (and somehow pancakes are healthier than cupcakes in my mind). But I figured you can't go this far into making pancake cupcakes and not go all the way! So I mixed together some icing sugar, maple syrup, and a touch of milk and made a drizzle (no recipe here, just mixed in a bowl until the consistency felt right).

Let me tell you- they were actually amazing. I gobbled them up like I hadn't eaten all day! I found them also to be a touch eggy in taste (but cooked right through!) so if you don't like eggs you can try a different recipe.

I also think they would have been amazing with crumbled bacon on top, but alas, no bacon in the condo!

Do you celebrate Shrove Tuesday and get down with your pancake self for dinner last night?? Are you giving up anything for Lent? My religious adherence only goes as far as eating pancakes...