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Quick Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes

This is what happens when you can't decide between pancakes and dessert and choose both. Stacks of fluffy buttermilk pancakes with a piped ribbon of sweetened cream cheese, warm strawberry preserve syrup with fresh berries, and a dusting of powdered sugar. It's a Sunday morning that turns into a Sunday afternoon because everyone wants seconds.

Why this works

• The cream cheese is piped, not mixed in. Piping cream cheese between layers keeps it as little pockets of cheesecake flavor instead of muddying the pancake. You bite into actual cheesecake every few forkfuls.
• Maple extract in the cream cheese. A tiny detail that nudges it toward the breakfast pancake camp and away from straight cheesecake. Vanilla works if you don't have maple.
• Real strawberry preserves plus fresh berries. The preserves give thickness and concentrated flavor, the fresh berries give bright texture. You need both.
• Use a pancake mix. Krusteaz, Kodiak, or whatever you trust. This recipe is about the toppings, the pancake itself just needs to be fluffy and ready in 10 minutes.

Pro tips

• Warm the preserves with the fresh strawberries until just soupy. Don't fully cook the berries, you want them to keep their shape.
• Pipe the cream cheese into a ziploc with the corner snipped off. No need for fancy pastry bags.
• Stack while warm. Cream cheese melts into the warm pancakes like frosting. Wait too long and it sits on top stiffly.
• Don't overmix the pancake batter. Lumps are good. Overmixed batter equals flat, tough pancakes.

FAQ

Can I make the pancakes from scratch?
Of course. Any buttermilk pancake recipe works. The toppings are the recipe's personality.

Can I use frozen strawberries?
Yes. Thaw, drain off most of the liquid, and use them just like fresh. The texture will be a little softer but still wonderful.

Can I prep this ahead?
Make the preserve syrup and cream cheese mix the night before, refrigerate. In the morning, just cook the pancakes and assemble.

What if I want a less sweet version?
Skip the maple extract in the cream cheese and reduce the sugar in the strawberry preserves by half. Still delicious, less dessert-y.

Storage

Cooked pancakes (without toppings) keep in the fridge for 3 days and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in a toaster or oven. Cream cheese mix keeps for 5 days refrigerated. Strawberry syrup keeps for a week in the fridge. Make the components ahead and assemble fresh each morning for a quick breakfast all week.

More breakfast crowd-pleasers in Breakfast.