Christmas Morning Is Better With Cookie Dough Pancakes

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

When I was a kid I didn’t really understand the allure of pancakes. They were fine, but I always found them to be disappointingly bland. Then I slept over at a friend's house and their pancakes had chocolate chips in them. My world changed forever. The fact is, pancakes are better with stuff in them, and there’s no breakfast more important to stuff with surprises than Christmas breakfast. Try this cookie dough pancake recipe and turn any pancake into an extra special breakfast worthy of Christmas morning.

This trick is encouragingly simple. You can make the pancakes any cookie flavor, but it doesn’t actually involve any raw cookie dough. Simply add ground up cookie crumbs to any pancake recipe you like. It’s really as simple as that, along with a little ratio consideration. I made two versions of cookie dough pancakes; I wanted some recognizable cookie flavor, so one recipe used Chips Ahoy cookies, and another used Oreos. 

Use a recipe from scratch

To make the Chips Ahoy pancake batter, I started with a basic from-scratch pancake recipe. I measured out the flour, baking powder, and salt. To those dry ingredients I added a cup of ground-up Chips Ahoy cookies. I wanted a 2:1 ratio of flour to cookie crumbs, so I eyeballed it and tossed 12 cookies into a food processor. To make crumbs, just pulse the cookies a few times and then blend them for 15 or 20 seconds. Little chocolate chip pieces are expected to remain. To the crumb-and-flour mixture, add the oil, eggs, and milk. Whisk until combined (a few lumps are okay), and fry on the stovetop as usual.  

Use boxed pancake mix

For Oreo-dough pancakes, I used the same ratio and method but this time with complete pancake mix. As expected, it worked like a charm. Actually, I’d like to adjust my grading—it exceeded expectations because Oreos have such a distinct flavor and color. I ground up six Oreos in a food processor until they broke down into a half-cup of small crumbs. Then I mixed the crumbs with a cup of dry pancake mix. I whisked in the water and my batter was thick and dark gray. While that doesn’t sound like anything you’d normally want to eat, it works if it’s Oreo. I let the batter sit for five minutes because Oreos like to absorb liquid, then got to frying my pancakes as I normally do.

The Oreo cookie pancakes were the winner for me, but I wouldn’t turn away a plate of Chips Ahoy pancakes either. The only thing that I would do differently for the Oreo pancakes is crush two or three more cookies by hand and mix them into the batter. Similar to how the best part of Oreo ice cream is coming across a cookie hunk, I was craving that experience in my pancakes.

This pancake recipe will work with any type of dry cookie and you can adjust the thickness to make cookie dough waffles too. Keep in mind that different cookies will absorb liquids differently. To adjust for this, add the milk as the final step. Only pour in half at first and then adjust the amount to reach the pancake or waffle consistency you’re looking for. A waffle batter should be thick and mound up when you scoop it. Pancake batter should be a bit thinner and pour like a ribbon, but it shouldn’t be watery. 

Cookie Dough Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup cookie crumbs (about 10-12 small cookies)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 scant tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

2 eggs

1 ¼ to 2 cups milk (adjust for consistency)

Butter for frying

1. Add the cookie crumbs to the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar (if using) in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk the ingredients to combine them. 

2. Add oil and eggs to the dry mixture, along with about ¾-cup of the milk. Whisk until mostly combined; it’s okay if some dry spots are in the bowl at this point. Drizzle a bit more milk in to reach the consistency you need for pancakes or waffles. You might not need all of the milk. 

3. Fry or waffle the batter as you usually would.