Poffertjes! From the land of canals, beautiful architecture, the tallest people in the world, windmills, and wooden clogs: The Netherlands.
These little chubby, puffy pancakes are somewhat ubiquitous at Markets and even some cafes here in Australia. It seems to me they had a particular renaissance in the late 90s/early 2000s, but that’s pure speculation based on the fact that the cafe my Mum sometimes took us to after school started serving them. Either way, all you need to know is this: they are fat, puffy pancakes that eat with sugar and butter, and sometimes strawberries and whipped cream.
What I didn’t know, being more used to the mass produced market versions that I suspect are made from a packet mix, was that these pancakes are not merely characterised by their sized. A poffertje really isn’t just a small round American-style pancake. They come from a time before chemical leavening agents, you see, so traditionally they are yeast leavened. They also come from a time when expensive, refined wheat was in short supply, thus the inclusion of buckwheat flour.
So what was once a cute but kinda dull street food offering all of a sudden seems a lot more interesting. And once I mucked around with some different batter ratios, different combinations of flour, different rise-times, I landed on a Poffertje that really warrants a trip to Amsterdam for. Only you don’t even have to go! Because the recipe is right here! The batter mixes up easily, and then just sits for a few hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge. Once it’s bubbly and risen, the dough gets portioned out into the indents in your pan (sorry, special equipment required), and bubbles away in a little butter, before being flipped over on themselves.
Yeasty, donut-scented, ochre-speckled puffs of pancake happiness are what will emerge from the pan once you get the hang of flipping and cooking your poffertjes. Serve them showered in sugar, and with a drizzle of melted butter, the way the Dutch do, or with strawberries and cream, or a spritz of lemon, or all of the above. I can’t stress enough the fact that there is no bad way to eat these. Just make sure you do.
xx Sarah.
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- 1 cup (150g) buckwheat flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1 + ½ cups (375ml) milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
- 2oz (50g) butter, melted
- Extra butter, powdered sugar, whipped cream, lemon, strawberries or whatever else you want, to serve.
- Place the flours, sugar, salt and yeast into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
- In a separate pitcher, whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla, and then gradually whisk those into the dry ingredients, aiming for no lumps, but not worrying if there are some.
- Cover the bowl with plastic and place in a warm spot for about an hour (or overnight in the fridge) after which the mixture should have increased a little in volume, and look kind of frothy and bubbly but not overly so.
- Heat a poffertje pan over a medium heat, and brush with some of the melted butter.
- Pour the remaining butter into the batter and stir through, but don't scrape out the melted butter too much - leave some for re-buttering the pan as you go.
- Place about 1 tbsp of mixture into each indent in the preheated pan and wait until the edges look set, and bubbles start to appear on the surface (as for regular pancakes), then take a fork or a chopstick, and hook it into one edge of the poffertje, before quickly flipping it over 180 into the pan. This takes a little practice, but you have plenty of batter, so just keep trying until you find a method that works for you.
- Continue until all the batter is used up, re-buttering the pan occasionally.
- Serve the pancakes with whatever toppings you like!
Haha, it’s funny how people always see the Netherlands in a certain way… Love this though, poffertjes are the best! Brings me back childhood memories.
Haha, don’t worry, I know that the Netherlands isn’t full of clog-dancing cheese makers!
Love poffertjes. They’re not from Amsterdam though, they are enjoyed all around the Netherlands. The Dutch go crazy over them and since I moved to the Netherlands from Greece, I’ve fallen in love with them too. your version of the sweet little treats looks fantastic!
Hey Magda! Thanks for the pickup! I did know that (ergo the title, *Dutch*) but I missed it in the first para – sorted now. I think I’ll have to make some loukoumades next. xx
Dude my dad is dutch and I ate so many of these when I was a little kid. It’s like the first thing I seek out when I go visit my dutch family in the Netherlands.
I really want to go try them on street! I will meet you thurrrrr.
My family is Danish and we have a version of these called aebleskiver and they are the best thing EVER! The Danish version includes a little cardamom too, which always reminds me of my Mormor whenever I smell it. I’ll have to pull out the pan soon and make the Dutch version though because I know my Mum loves them so much (usually just with powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon). IN LOVE with this street food Friday!
I have never ever gotten to try these but THANK YOU because now I can make these at home??!
Yay for street food Fridays!!!!!!! These look divinely addictive! I could eat the whole plate
TOTALLY my kind of street food. This looks delicious!
These look so delicious! I loved having those in Copenhagen!
Kari
I’ve never tried poffertjes before but I’ve always wanted to, I’ll have to seek out a pan because these look awesome!
I had never heard of these and the day after reading your post originally I saw them in the frozen food section of my local grocery store here in Canada. I had other priorities that day but I will likely be back to pick some up!
Love poffertjes! If you’re ever planning of coming to Holland let me know, I show you the world most famous poffertjes place…and all the other strange food habits we have ;-)
These are the cutest little pancakes I ever did see! My kids would love these. Totally making…Thanks!
ooooh I’ve never even heard of these little pseudo-pancakes before! They look SO SO YUMMMMMMY though! ahhhh
Hi. I couldn’t find buckwheat flour in my country. Can I just use regular all purpose flour? If yes, how much should it be? I also found instant yeast only, can I use it and how much of that should be used?
Do you think it would be fine if I replaced yeast with baking powder? I find yeast to be problematic, I tried another recipe with instant yeast ) 2ts) and it smelled horrible after 2 hours of being out at room temperature and it went bad.
Hey Rita – you can just use a more plain american-style pancake batter made with baking powder. For example these diner-style pancakes. And that way you can skip the buckwheat and the yeast, and it’ll still be delish.
xx