Pancake Panini

Usually the best part of the panini is the bread.  Picking the right bread can be the difference between a so-so sandwich and a party in your tummy.  Now technically, this panini doesn’t have any bread because it’s made with pancakes.  But those pancakes make all the difference.

To make a pancake panini you’ll need the follow ingredients:

• Pancakes
• Bacon, sausage or ham
• Maple Syrup
• Butter

Unless you enjoy washing dishes and appliances, the easiest way to make this panini is with leftover pancakes.  On the weekend I’ll usually make a whole batch of pancakes for the family and we’ll put the leftovers in foil.  During the week, my son likes to pop a pancake into the toaster oven before school.  Having leftover pancakes is definitely a lot easier than making them on the stove and then transfering them to the panini grill.  And unfortunately, when you pour batter on a ridged grill, the pancakes don’t come out that great.

So first thing you do is butter one of side of two pancakes.  These will serve as your bread.  For the filling, you can add bacon, sausage or your favorite breakfast meat.  Leftover glazed ham works great too.  (can you tell I’m a big fan of making sure that all of my leftover get used up?)

Next comes the syrup.  Add about a tablespoon or two, just for the flavor.  If you’re like me you’ll want to dunk this entire panini into a bowl of hot syrup so you only need a little bit in inside of it.

Cook the panini for a few minutes and serve it up with fruit.

One variation of this recipe is to make thin pancakes using a little extra liquid in your pancake mix.  If the pancake is thin, then it makes it very easy to roll it around a nice breakfast sausage.  This way you can enjoy your pancake panini, pig in a blanket style.