Yin & Yang Cookie Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

As you can see, I’ve got quite a wide range of pancakes, and they’re special in their own unique way. Let’s also emphasize how colorful the pancakes are! We’ve got red pancakes, white pancakes, cocoa pancakes, green pancakes (!!!). I think I’m just missing blue pancakes! Now I’ve got to try that…

These Yin and Yang cookie pancakes were first inspired by just that - I had wanted to make a big stack of pancakes that looked like sandwich cookies! I love plain pancakes and I love cocoa pancakes. I tend to alternate between making the two types as the weeks go on. But why not get the best of both worlds and enjoy them at the same time? That’ll double crush my cravings!

Now here’s a bit of back story behind these pancakes. I had tried them once a year before making this recipe - yes, the concept is that old! Unfortunately, on my first attempt, it was a bit of a flop. The white and chocolate pancakes were completely unevenly distributed! I still have the photo, so you can see for yourself.

Look! I only have three plain pancakes compared to 5 chocolate pancakes! And that little white pancake on the top is just so tiny! This was a really long time ago, but I feel like the amount of whipped cream there is trying to just hide that tiny little pancake. Whoops!

But as I always say, it’s okay to make mistakes in the kitchen! That’s how we learn, right! Let me tell you, I definitely learned from this flop! You may be thinking I’m being a bit too harsh on myself. The pancakes sure were delicious, and they look OKAY, but I’m the type of person who gets bothered when they know that they could have done better, especially in the kitchen! I put off redoing these pancakes because it did take some time to think of the method. You can be rest assured though that these were always on my mind, though! It was quite a challenge to figure out the perfect solution to get perfect black and white pancakes, but I figured it out!

Now, me being me, I also wanted to take these up a notch - two actually! - by making these pancakes chocolate chip pancakes as well! Each pancake has the opposite color of chocolate chips. To go even crazier, we’re also going to be adding two glazes! These can now officially be black and white pancakes, inspired by Michael Jackson's "It don't matter if you're black or white!"

For sure, these pancakes are of epic proportions! You do need to be careful to evenly separate the batter into two as well as the glaze, but it's well worth the effort (and dishes that you’ll have to clean afterward!). Enjoy!

Ingredients for Yin and Yang Cookie Pancakes

For the Pancakes

• Rolled oats: Blended to make oat flour. Alternatively, you can substitute the oats for 1 Cup of all purpose flour.
• Egg
• Baking powder
• Honey
• Vanilla extract
• Cocoa powder
• Butter or cooking spray: For cooking the pancakes. I prefer to add melted, unsalted butter because it adds a delicious flavor to the pancakes and helps the white ones get a lovely golden brown color.
• White chocolate chips
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Cream Cheese Glazes

• Cream cheese
• Powdered sugar
• Milk
• Cocoa powder

For the Toppings

• White chocolate
• Milk chocolate

Making the White and Cocoa Pancake Batters

Diligence will be key with this recipe! We’ll start out with making one pancake batter, my classic pancake batter using oat flour. Then, we’ll split it in two and carry on from there. This recipe should yield 6 pancakes, so 3 white pancakes and 3 chocolate pancakes.

Before preparing your batter, however, make sure you have the oven preheating to 200 F! This is to keep our cooked pancakes warm while the others are cooking.

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour/oat flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients - water/milk, egg, honey and the vanilla extract.
2. Either begin whisking with your hands or turn on your stand mixer, and pour the wet ingredients with the dry and whisk until you get a thick but runny pancake batter.
3. Distribute the pancake mixture equally between two bowls. In one of the bowls, add the cocoa powder and whisk well. This is your cocoa pancake batter.
4. Add your chocolate chips in the respective batters. In the white pancake batter, add the semi-sweet chocolate chips and gently whisk. Repeat with the chocolate pancake batter by adding in the white chocolate chips and gently whisking.

I recommend using the pancake batter immediately or at least within an hour or so, storing it in the fridge if for later use. I’ve left pancake batter overnight and I do find it doesn’t keep its consistency overnight.

Two Cream Cheese Glazes!

For this pancake recipe, I’m going to use my Classic Cream Cheese Glaze recipe! We’ll add some modifications for these Yin and Yang pancakes.

1. Mix together the milk, powdered sugar, and the cream cheese until everything has been well combined and there are no lumps.
2. Divide the glaze between two bowls. In one bowl, add the cocoa powder.
3. Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. If you do not chill it, the glazes will melt from the hot pancakes, and your stack will be likely to collapse. We don’t want that to happen!

Cooking Yin and Yang Pancakes Step by Step

Cooking these Yin and Yang pancakes is like

1. Heat a pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add some butter or spray cooking spray.
2. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour your pancake batter onto the pan. Cook until you see bubbles start to form.
3. Flip your pancake. Cook for another minute or two. Then, transfer the cooked pancake onto a baking tray, and add it to the oven heated at 200 F to keep warm. Repeat Steps 2-3 for the remaining batter.

Assembling the Pancakes

When all of your pancakes have cooked, it’s time for the fun part and assemble our pancakes!

1. Take out your cream cheese glazes from the fridge. Add a chocolate pancake on a plate, and spoon some of the white cream cheese glaze. Gently spread it around in circular motions, and do not spread beyond half the diameter of the pancake. Adding more pancakes on top will spread the glaze further, so be sure not to overdo it here!
2. Then, add a white pancake on top, and repeat the previous step with the chocolate cream cheese glaze. Keep going until you’ve reached the top pancake.
3. Make the Yin and Yang symbol on the top pancake. Using the centre of the stack as a guide, spoon a dollop of white cream cheese glaze near the top edge of the pancake. Using the back of a spoon, spread the glaze following the curve of the pancake until you reach the lower half. Using the chocolate glaze, repeat the same motion in the other direction.
4. Sprinkle some white and milk chocolate shavings down the centre of the Yin and Yang symbol. Serve hot and enjoy!

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