Judgement Time: IHOP’s Holiday Hotcakes

I. Love. Pancakes.

Doesn’t everybody? I know there has been an ongoing waffles vs. pancakes debate, but for me, pancakes will always take the cake. They’re fluffy, floppy, fun, and delicious. Nothing gives me such child-like glee as to inundate a stack of these golden cakes in rich maple syrup then stick my fork straight through the fluffy interior. Pancakes and syrup may be a simple thing, but MAN, are they good!

You can imagine how a place like IHOP might just be heaven for me. True, I have often contemplated moving in and spending the rest of my life in a pancake utopia where all of my maple syrup-covered dreams come true. I decided to go to college instead, but if the whole “higher education” thing doesn’t work out, at least I’ve got that as a back up plan.

When I heard IHOP had released a line of new Holiday Hotcakes, I HOPPED right on over (I’m sorry, I had to). It was once of those situations that, from the moment I learned of the Holiday Hotcakes’ existence, it consumed my every waking thought. I counted down the hours until I may go to IHOP and try some for myself.

Now, The Holiday Hotcakes come in three flavors: Pumpkin Praline (which consists of pumpkin pancakes topped with caramel sauce and candied pecans), Eggnog (regular pancakes layered with an eggnog-flavored cream and topped with butter rum sauce), and White Chocolate Chip Mint (regular pancakes with white chocolate chips and topped with peppermint pieces). I tried the first two, as I’m not a huge fan of mint (sorry mint-lovers).

First up was the Pumpkin Praline. A little disclosure before I begin: if you order these as the combo you will get significantly smaller pancakes then if you order the pancakes alone, and you only get 2 as opposed to 3. Note the size difference between the pumpkin ones (which were a combo) and the eggnog (which was only pancakes). No one warned me of this, and I was rather upset. If you aren’t aware, I have a stomach roughly the size of Asia, and that puny pancake stack didn’t cut it!

Back to the pumpkin hotcakes. Overall, they were pretty darn tasty. They could’ve been a little more pumpkin-y, but pumpkin was definitely present. I really liked the caramel sauce, which seemed to have some pumpkin pie spices incorporated. The pecan topping was nice and crunchy with a sweet coating. I only wish there had been a bit more of it. It’s hard for me to judge the texture of these pancakes though. IHOP p-cakes are typically nice and fluffy, but as I said, these pancakes were very skimpy. These would’ve been so much better if they had been of the proper size and thickness. I believe if I had ordered the full-sized ones as opposed to the combo, they would’ve been properly thick and fluffy. How do I know? Well just look at the Eggnog Pancakes!

These were the size that pancakes should be, a substantial tower of 3 thick pancakes layered with Eggnog Cream. I really enjoyed this filling; it was not overly Eggnog-y, but just flavorful enough. Moreover, it was light and creamy. I was worried it might be too thick and rich, but that was not at all the case. The buttered rum sauce was a nice idea in theory, but I very much dislike that artificial alcohol flavor. I would’ve preferred just plain old syrup. The good news is that it’s only a light drizzle of butter rum, and therefore, it is not too overbearing.

I would’ve been more impressed if the pancakes themselves had been eggnog-flavored. And although they are very good, it’s not something you can eat a lot of at once.

So, how do these pancakes STACK up on the Smart Cookie Scale?

Pumpkin Praline:

4.5 stars out of 5

Eggnog:

4.5 stars out of 5

Are these pancakes worth trying? Definitely. Just make sure you get the full order & not the combo if you want big, fluffy p-cakes! Also, you should do what my mother & I did: she got the Eggnog and I got the Pumpkin Praline, and we shared with each other. This eliminates the issue off not being able to eat a lot of the Eggnog at once and you get to try each kind!

Have you tried IHOP’s Holiday Hotcakes? What did you think?