Food & Cooking Recipes Breakfast & Brunch Recipes Pancake Recipes Heart Pancakes 4.2 (24) Show your love with these tender, golden pancakes. Close Credit: Brie Goldman Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins Total Time: 30 mins Servings: 3 to 4 Yield: 12 4-inch pancakes Jump to recipe Our recipe for heart shaped pancakes is the perfect breakfast for Valentine's Day—or any morning you want to spread a little extra love. You need only basic pantry ingredients like flour, baking powder, and sugar, plus milk and eggs, to whip up the quick and easy batter (trust us, it's hardly more work than making pancakes from a box). To form the heart shapes, you can use either a pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off—no need for any special equipment here. Customize these fun and festive flapjacks with fruit, chocolate chips, or a touch of food coloring, or leave them plain to let their golden color and just-sweet-enough flavor shine through. 14 Valentine's Day Breakfasts for a Romantic Start to Your Day Tips for Golden, Fluffy Pancakes Spoon, don't scoop, your flour: When measuring out flour for this recipe (and others), we recommend spooning flour into your measuring cup rather than scooping your measuring cup into the bag. (Scooping can cause too much flour to end up in your measuring cup, which can throw off the recipe.) Once you've spooned a heaping amount into the cup, use the back of a knife to gently level off the top. Don't over mix: To keep your pancakes light and fluffy, it's important to whisk the batter just until the ingredients are incorporated and no dry streaks of flour remain. Some small to medium lumps will still remain and that's okay—it's better to leave them than to risk over mixing your batter, which can result in tough pancakes. Use enough fat: To get an even, golden color, it's important to add enough fat to the pan between batches. We prefer the taste of butter, but do note that the milk solids can brown and burn easily if your heat is too high; if you'd prefer, you can use a bit of vegetable oil instead. Either way, use a paper towel or pastry brush to apply a thin layer of fat to the griddle or skillet before piping on the batter. Batter should be somewhat thick and not runny or watery. Before adding it to your pastry bag, dip a spoon in it and let it drip off; it should pour off slowly but easily. If it looks too thin, stir in an additional 1/4 cup of flour. If it looks too thick, stir in more milk, about one tablespoon at a time. How to Form Heart Shaped Pancakes While some recipes out there call for ladling batter into heart shaped cookie cutters or cutting shapes out of the pancakes after griddling, we prefer to use a pastry bag to draw the hearts directly on the pan. This lets you control the size and shape of each pancake and doesn't leave you with any wasted trimmings. Here's how to get it done: Set pastry bag—fitted with a standard tip—in a large glass and fold the open end over the top of the glass before filling. (This will help keep it upright as you add the batter, making the process easy and mess free.)Transfer batter to a pastry bag. Press out air, then twist top of bag and secure with a rubber band.When ready to cook, draw an outline of a heart on a heated and greased griddle, then fill in the center by piping a V shape. What to Use If You Don't Have a Pastry Bag No pastry bag? No problem. You can still make this recipe using a resealable plastic bag instead. Fill the bag with batter as directed, then use scissors to snip about one-quarter inch off of one of the bottom corners when you're ready to start forming your hearts. Directions Credit: Brie Goldman Preheat griddle or nonstick skillet; mix dry ingredients: Preheat griddle to 350°F, or heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Credit: Brie Goldman Add wet ingredients: Add egg, milk, and 2 tablespoons melted butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps. Credit: Brie Goldman Preheat oven and grease griddle: Preheat oven to 175°F. Place a baking sheet or heatproof plate in the oven. Test griddle by sprinkling with a few drops of water. If water bounces and spatters, it is hot enough. Add about 1/2 teaspoon butter onto griddle and spread with a paper towel or pastry brush; wipe off excess. Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe heart shapes on griddle: Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip with batter; twist end of bag, and secure with rubber band. Working in batches, pipe heart shapes, drawing V of batter in center of hearts to fill, on heated griddle. Credit: Brie Goldman Flip panakes and continue cooking: Flip When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute. Credit: Brie Goldman Repeat with remaining batter: Repeat with remaining batter, using 1/2 teaspoon butter on griddle for each batch, keeping finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven until ready to serve. How to Store and Reheat Leftover Pancakes Leftover heart shaped pancakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week. Reheat them in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds or in the toaster oven for 1 to 2 minutes. What to Serve With Heart-Shaped Pancakes Serve these flapjacks with plenty of softened butter and syrup or, for a fruitier finish, try our easy, juicy recipe for macerated berries. Round out the meal with some homemade breakfast sausage patties (which you can make with pork, chicken, or turkey) or our sweet-and-salty brown sugar-glazed bacon. If a scramble is more your style, check out our recipes for French-style scrambled eggs, tofu egg scramble with avocado, or these scrambled eggs with mixed herbs. Five More Pancake Recipes to Try: Banana Pancakes Best Buttermilk Pancakes Bacon Pancakes Silver Dollar Pancakes Swedish Pancakes Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.