Gingerbread Pancakes

The best soft and fluffy Gingerbread Pancakes! This quick and easy recipe is perfect for breakfast on Christmas morning – like eating gingerbread cookies for brunch!

This recipe is one of my kids’ favorite Christmas morning breakfast. If I’m an extra special mom, I cut the pancakes with a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter and put chocolate chips as little eyes and buttons on top to serve. It’s the best thing to see the joy in their eyes from something so simple!

I had to make this recipe a few times to get the flavor right, but I believe now it has just the right balance of gingerbread spices and sweetness. It’s also very simple to pull together with just a few staple ingredients – no endless hours spent whipping up your special holiday brunch!

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.

Ingredient notes

• Brown sugar: I prefer dark brown sugar in this recipe, but feel free to use light brown sugar if that’s all you have.
• Molasses: I go for dark molasses here, but light are fine if you prefer those. Please do not use blackstrap molasses, they are too bitter for a sweet recipe such as these pancakes. If you don’t have any molasses on hand, you can use honey. The gingerbread taste will be a little less intense, but still good.
• Oil: Feel free to use melted butter in place of the oil for an extra-rich taste.
• Gingerbread spices: Either use my homemade gingerbread spice mix, a store-bougt mix or a blend of ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves and ¼ teaspoon ground allspice.

How to make Gingerbread Pancakes

This is such a simple recipe with so little steps. First, whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl until well combined (1) – I always use a whisk because it helps the baking powder to evenly distribute.

In a separate bowl or large measuring jug, whisk together the wet ingredients until smooth (2).

Now pour the wet into the dry ingredients and fold together JUST until combined (3). Lumps are absolutely fine – but if you overmix the batter, your pancakes will come out dense and gummy.

Use a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat to cook your pancakes (4). I use 2 tablespoons of batter, if they’re too big they’re hard to flip.

It’s also important to use medium-low heat and watch them closely, the pancakes burn easily due to the high molasses and sugar content.

Recipe tips

• Do not overmix the pancake batter! Once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir just until the flour is moistened. A lumpy, scraggly batter is perfect!
• Use medium-low heat to cook your pancakes. They burn easily because they are relatively high in sugar and molasses, so mind your temperature setting.
• Batter consistency: Depending on your exact size eggs and exact brand of brown sugar and molasses, the batter may seem a little thin. If you feel it’s much thinner than your regular pancake batter, feel free to fold in 2 more tablespoons of flour.
• Don’t stack the pancakes before serving – we place them on a wire rack in a single layer. You can also put them in the oven on the lowest temperature setting to keep them warm. But don’t stack them before serving, or they may come out dense.

Freezer instructions

To freeze, place the cooled pancakes in freezer bags. Label with the name and date, then freeze for up to 3 months.

Defrost unwrapped on a rack on the counter. You can also microwave the pancakes from frozen.

Serving ideas

We enjoy these with a side of my winter fruit salad. A pat of honey butter and drizzle of syrup on top never hurt, either 😉 If you want to be extra-fancy, sprinkle on some chopped pecans and icing sugar for a “snowed on” look. So pretty and festive!

More gingerbread recipes

PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!

I first published this recipe on 11/27/2014. I updated the recipe, photos, post and video on 12/13/2020 to make the recipe better, the post more helpful and the photos more beautiful!