Pikelets! Silver dollar pancakes. Drop scones. Mini hotcakes. Whatever you know these as, these baby fluffy pancakes are absolutely irresistible! Serve for breakfast or afternoon tea with copious amounts of jam and cream.
PIKELETS – an Aussie favourite!
When I first shared this recipe in 2016, I called pikelets an Aussie favourite and expressed pity for anyone who hadn’t discovered their greatness.
Turns out, I was a bit clueless – readers quickly pointed out that pikelets exist all over the world, just under different names: drop scones, Scotch pancakes, silver dollar pancakes, mini hotcakes.
Oops! 😅 Consider me educated!
But, for those of you new to pikelets, they are just mini pancakes. Fun breakfast or anytime snack, and great for taking places (think: office morning tea) – quick to make, easy to transport, reheat perfectly and excellent for gatherings because you can eat them with your hands.
I often think of them as the easier scone!
Ingredients in pikelets
Here’s what you need to make pikelets. The batter is the same as pancakes but pikelets have one big advantage – you can make multiple in the pan at the same time. Anybody else feel performance anxiety flipping pancakes one at a time with a table full of hangry people??
Plain flour / all-purpose flour – can be substituted with self raising flour though it won’t be quite as fluffy, as is the case with anything made with self raising flour vs plain flour + baking powder.
Baking powder – this is what makes the pikelets fluffy. If yours has been hiding unused in the pantry for many months, check it’s still active.
Sugar – I only use a small amount, just 2 tablespoons, because the jam adds sweetness.
Milk – The liquid to thin the batter. Full fat cow milk makes softer pikelets but low fat / no fat or even non-dairy milk works fine too.
Vanilla – For flavour. I use vanilla extract which has more pure vanilla flavour than imitation essence.
Egg – Use a large egg, 50-55g/2oz each, sold in cartons labelled “large eggs” (600 – 660g for a dozen).
How to make pikelets
Here’s how to make pikelets. If you can cook without being interrupted, you’ll have them on the table in 20 minutes flat!
Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder, pinch of salt).
Add wet – Make a well in the centre. Add the egg, milk and vanilla then whisk until combined and almost lump free. The batter should be fairly thick but pourable, like the consistency of thick honey.
If needed, adjust the consistency with milk (if too thick) or flour (if too thin).
Cook – Melt just 1 teaspoon of butter in a non stick pan over medium high heat (or medium ,if your stove is strong). Then wipe most of it off with a paper towel (too much butter = very splotchy surface, not a big deal, just a visual thing).
Pour about 1 1/2 tbsp batter into the pan and coax it into a circle. An ice cream scoop with a lever will be your friend here.
Bubbles – Cook for 1 1/2 minutes until bubbles rise to the surface and at least 4 of them pop. This indicates the pikelets are ready for flipping. If they are browning too quickly on the underside before there are bubbles on the surface, lower the heat.
PRO TIP: If your batter is on the thick side, the bubbles might not pop. Just take a peek on the underside and if golden, flip!
Flip with a flick of the wrist, with confidence! Then cook the other side for 1 minute or until golden, then remove from the pan.
Pile onto a plate with jam and cream then serve!
Pikelets are so popular in Australia, they are actually sold at supermarkets. It baffles me why anyone would ever buy them! I tried them once out of curiosity and they actually taste artificial. They have a weird fake vanilla-egg flavour.
But putting that, they cost a few dollars for a pack of 6 or so, whereas it would cost maybe $1.50 to make a dozen at home, with the added bonus that they taste so much better. And they are so fast to make, plus easier to handle than pancakes because they’re small so they’re easier to flip without smearing batter everywhere or missing the pan completely (yep, it’s happened!).
So, next time you’re after a quick snack for a hoard of hungry kids or your friends are dropping by unexpectedly, or you’re known as the culinary queen (or king) at work but don’t have the time to make a fresh batch of scones for the fundraiser morning tea on Monday morning, make pikelets! – Nagi x
Pikelets FAQ
I haven’t tried unfortunately. I will come back and update the recipe if I do!
Cooked pikelets will keep 3 days in an airtight container, best to keep in fridge then warm in microwave (goes a long way to freshen them). They can also be frozen for 3 months.
I like serving them warm because they are softer and fluffier. However, they are still great at room temperature which makes them a good option for picnics, bake sales etc.
Anything you put on pancakes you can put on pikelets! Here are some ideas:
Butter
Lemon juice and sugar
Maple syrup
Fruit compotes and sauces
Nutella
Ice cream
Custard or curds (like lemon curd)
Butterscotch sauce / caramel
Watch how to make it
And a fun little outtakes video from this week, when JB made pikelets for the first time – how do you pronounce “pikelets”!?
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Pikelets
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups plain flour / all-purpose flour (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder (check yours is still active)
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 large egg (50-55g / 2 oz in shell)
- 3/4 cup milk (full fat best, but any type even non dairy ok)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional but recommended)
- 2 tsp butter
To Serve
- Strawberry jam
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- Whisk dry – Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl.
- Add wet – Make a well in the centre. Add the egg, milk and vanilla, then whisk until it's almost lump free. The batter should be the consistency like thick honey – looser than tomato sauce, thicker than maple syrup. (Note 2)
- Melt 1 tsp butter in a non-stick pan over medium high heat (or medium, for strong stoves). Then most of the butter off with a paper towel so there are no visible drops of bubbles of butter (Note 3).
- Drop ~2 tbsp batter into the pan and coax into 7.5cm/3" rounds. An ice cream scoop with lever will be your friend here. I cook 4 at a time.
- Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and once 4 or more of these bubbles pop (1 1/2 minutes), this means they are ready to flip. Flip with confidence! Then cook the other side for 1 minute or until golden.
- Keep cooking – Remove onto a plate. Cook the next batch (no need to add extra butter until 3rd batch).
- Serve warm with jam and cream, or butter!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published in June 2016, before I taught myself to make recipe videos. Republished in 2025 with said recipe video, plus sparkling new photos, refreshed chatter and of course a 2025 Life of Dozer update (spoiler: no change, really, just older!).
Life of Dozer
Dozer 2016. 3 years old, from the original pikelets post. Trained not to touch that pikelet until he gets the command:
Dozer 2025, almost 13 years old. Just can’t see the cream as much because his face is whiter!
These are lovely but in the UK we call them Scotch Pancakes. Pikelets are a thinner version of a crumpet. Great recipe though – thanks!
In South Africa we call them “plaatkoekies” (Afrikaans word for pancakes). Simply love them. So quick and easy to make.
Whereas I’m sure these are lovely, they ain’t pikelets – they look and sound rom the recipe more like scotch pancakes.
Damded right! Everyone needs a trip yo Staffordshire!
I am 72 years old and this is the same as my mother taught me. I’m from Queensland and we call them pikelets.
We put the jam first followed by cream but I have noticed that some times people put cream first then jan!
Haven’t made the Pikelets yet, but ingredients and method similar to what we call ‘Drop Scones’ in Ireland
Similar – just different name 🙂 N x
Love your recipes thank you
Thanks so much Bernadette! N x
So funny ,,in a great way ,we bin making silver dollar pancakes for ever ,like yours just size of a silver dollar , now read you sausage wrap but no stores and no puff pastry so wrapdat sausage in a pickelet thus pegs in a blanket. Bless you Nagi , James woulda loved you and your love of FOOD. Peace Joseph !! using goat milk powered and powdered egg III reconstituted of course. !!!
dats pigs in a blanket
So funny ,,in a great way ,we bin making silver dollar pancakes for ever ,like yours just size of a silver dollar , now read you sausage wrap but no stores and no puff pastry so wrapdat sausage in a pickelet thus pegs in a blanket. Bless you Nagi , James woulda loved you and your love of FOOD. Peace Joseph !!
Yum! I left out 1/4 cup of flour and put in 1/4 cup of custard powder instead and a touch more milk. I’m sure they are delicious without the addition of custard powder, but I couldn’t help myself! 😊
Interesting Laura – I’ll have to try! N x
May I use whole wheat flour?
By the way, is this similar to Japan’s fluffy and soft mini pancakes? If not do you have a recipe for that too? 🙂
Help! I’ve tried this recipe twice now and the batter is sooo thick. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tired adding more milk or another egg but the taste still seems very floury…
I found the batter was much too thick – they reminded me of American style hot cakes rather than pikelets. I added more milk but next time I’ll also reduce the baking powder. I don’t need such a dramatic rise on my pikelets.
Interesting. Does everyone outside of the US call American pancakes “hot cakes”? We don’t have adorable names for them like “pikelets,” though I might lobby for it now haha. We just call them…pancakes. Old-timers might colloquially call them flapjacks.
Well I don’t think they are boring! They are delicious but, in the U.K., we would call these Scotch pancakes or drop scones and they would traditionally be cooked on a thick cast iron slab. In the U.K. a Pikelet is a very thin crumpet – gorgeous but definitely savoury, not sweet. Best, in my opinion, smothered with an obscene amount of butter and some Marmite (like Vegemite but much better……controversial!!)
Love all the different names for these, crumpets here are something different again!!
Beautiful! Can’t beat a Pikelet with jam and cream. Fab recipe Nagi, thank you:)
Your recipes and videos are my lifeline, my family now like my cooking thanks to you:)
Thanks so much Rebecca!!
These are not pikelets they are scotch pancakes and very boreing
When I was a child and grew up in Nottingham UK we had a local firm that made pikelets I think it was called pikkits pikelets they were great just covered in buttet
Pikelets are 5/8 thick there top is peppered with holes for the butter to sink in to the pikelets great
Sounds like you’re talking about what we call crumpets here as these are definitely what we know as pikelets. Sorry you think they are boring, I think they are delightful! – N
HOW TO PRONOUNCE YOUR name??!!??
We really love your recipes we have had spaghetti and your pulled beef AND your fish!
That’s awesome Max! My name is pronounced “nah ghee” 🙂
Hello Nagi,
Just made them this morning. Wauw! What a result. Been looking for the perfect recipe for a while now. Conclusion: found it!!!! That tip is also fantastic! I will put some photo’s on instagram and tag you. Thank you so much for all your great recipes. Been following you for a while and everyone who sits at my table is happy☺️
Colette
That’s so great to hear Colette!!
Hi Nagi, like Kim Mackie’s comment, I’m wanting a savoury recipe to serve with smoked salmon. Do you suggest I omit the sugar and obviously the vanilla?
Hi Anne, yes you can just omit the sugar & vanilla here – N x
Hi Nagi, I have made and loved many of your recipes, but this one I wasn’t so keen on. The flavour is good, but I have to agree with Molly, they are just a dense tough unpleasant texture. I was very careful not to over beat the mixture, and I weighed the ingredients and followed your recipe to a T. But as I said they do taste really nice.
Hi Deb, I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy these! Can I ask what flour you used?
Best pikelet recipe ever.
Hi Nagi used your recipe….amazing… omitted the vanilla and made tiny blinis with dill & lemon cream cheese, smoked salmon & baby capers for a high tea..so many compliments…thank you for another awesome recipe
That’s great to hear Kym! Thanks for letting me know! N x
These looked and tasted beautiful but ours came out a little tough. Any advice? I’m looking for a go to pike let recipe and so far this one is the closest!
I don’t beat at all. I use a whisk but mix SLOWLY. Then when the flour is well damped I leave it standing for about half an hour and mix it SLOWLY again. The odd lump will still remain but if it bothers you you can touch it with the point of your pancake turner. Lumps are usually not noticeable when you eat them
Tough?? 🤔 Any chance you mixed the batter a lot??? Believe it or not there is such thing as over beating a batter – but it takes effort to do that!
Hi,
Are you able to freeze these once made to use again??
Yes! They will freeze just fine! 🙂