3994. MAPLE BACON MOCHI PANCAKE BITES

Makes around a 12-15 pancake bites, or one and a half pancake towers


For the pancake bites:

3/4 cup mochiko flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 strips of thick cut bacon

For the maple glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp milk (if needed)

Cook the strips of bacon till crispy. Drain the excess oil, pat dry and let cool. Chop the bacon into very small pieces. Set aside.

Whisk together the mochiko and all purpose flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the milk and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. If desired, sprinkle a few tablespoons of the bacon bits into the batter.

Heat a takoyaki pan over medium heat. Use a pastry brush to butter the pan. Pour the pancake batter into each hole, filling just to the top but not enough for the batter to overflow. The batter will rise, and some of the batter will spill a bit onto the sides around the hole. When the bites begin to bubble, use a wooden chopstick or skewer to test the doneness of the batter that spilled around the hole. If it feels hardened but still slightly tacky, use your skewers to flip the pancake bite over. Keep turning each bite in the pan until it is evenly golden brown. Transfer the bites to a plate and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the maple syrup into the powdered sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Pouring all the wet ingredients into the powdered sugar at once will cause the glaze to turn very runny. Once you have incorporated all the maple syrup, add in the milk if the mixture is still too thick.

For assembly, stack the pancake bites in a pyramid. I did this by placing 5 in a circle and adding one to the middle. Then add 3 more for the 2nd level, and one for the very top. Drizzle the pancake bites with the maple glaze and sprinkle the remaining bacon bits on top.

bacon recipe source: Courtney, Fork to Belly (@Cocobunniee), February 9, 2015