Pancakes have never quite translated to the fast-food world.

Outside of the “hot cakes” McDonald’s used to slap inside giant Styrofoam cloches, I can’t even think of a traditional pancake I’ve seen on a menu.

French Toast Sticks? Sure. McGriddles are kinda like pancakes, but not quite. What else am I forgetting?

One thing’s for sure, I definitely don’t remember ever eating a pancake from Dunkin’.

Well, lucky for us(?), Dunkin’ figured out how to bring pancakes to the menu with the use of its patented Munchkinizer™ technology. Introducing Pancake Minis!

According to Dunkin’, “Pancake Minis includes six mini pancakes filled with maple-flavored bits, served warm with a side of syrup.”

A few key words really struck me – “maple-flavored bits.” Yes! That’s how you sell a pancake at Dunkin’, mimic the McDonald’s McGriddle cake. You’re telling me I can eat mini poppable McGriddles and add even more syrup if I want too?!

… Oh you’re not? Oh. That’s disappointing.

Don’t get your hopes up. The pancakes desperately need the syrup. Any sweetness just tastes like a teaspoon of sugar was added to the batter. Without strong “maple-flavored bits,” this entire concept is DOA. Unless you’re planning on dining inside a large Dunkin’ restaurant, these are pointless.

Few foods on Earth get colder faster than a pancake. These pancake Pogs get colder even faster than that! They won’t travel well.

I’m a car eater, but I also despise getting sticky, so opening and dunking into a syrup cup in my car isn’t ideal. You’re playing with fire even if you’re parked. The drip threat isn’t worth the risk.

“How hard is it to not spill syrup, you buffoon?” Ok, fair enough, but in all honesty, the pancakes don’t even taste that good even if you slather them with the Mrs. Butterworth syrup.

They didn’t even stay hot for 30 seconds, and I watched the employee just pull 6 of em out of a drawer. He shuffled them like poker chips then nuked em for 30 seconds. Ok, he didn’t shuffle em, but something about the whole process was still a bit off-putting. This is a nitpick though as I’m sure plenty of places like this prepare foods similarly.

Dunkin’ is great at “mini.” Munchkins are iconic, and those bagel balls are a really good on-the-go snack, but these are just ill-conceived. Pancakes aren’t a quick snack, and they didn’t even try to get creative.

These are basically the Eggo minis in the freezer section, but at least you can make those at home.

If you’re dead set on pancakes, just go to your local mom and pop breakfast spot instead. You’ll find the time, most people wolf pancakes down in 5 minutes anyway.

The portion size is good and they have 10 grams of protein, but Pancake Minis aren’t worth it. Something tells me they won’t be “selling like hotcakes.”

On a scale of “dip to skip” these are a skip. Just wait for McDonald’s to make “Liddle McGriddles.” ™ Vin. Hit me up, McDonald’s.

Purchased Price: $2.49
Size: 6 pancakes and 1 oz. syrup
Rating: 4 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (6 pancakes + dipping syrup) 230 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 260 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of total carbohydrates, 22 grams of total sugars, 10 grams of protein.

This is a long time coming for me.

I’m sure at some point Dunkin’ has dabbled with peanut butter flavored coffees, but I’ve never had it before. In fact, every time they put out a new flavor, I wonder when peanut butter is coming. I’ve never even had a peanut butter donut from Dunkin’, so I just kinda assumed they banned it altogether because of allergies or something.

Well, I no longer have to wonder what Dunkin’s take on peanut butter might taste like now that I’ve had its new Peanut Butter Cup Macchiato. Was it worth the wait?

Absolutely.

I never order “macchiatos” despite how fun it is to say, and I honestly had to Google what differentiated them from all the other coffee-based drinks. In case you’re as uneducated as me, it has a higher espresso to milk ratio. I shoulda been getting these all along.

Right away, I was shocked by how orange the macchiato was. It’s vibrant and festive, but all I could really think was, “I bet that’s just a bunch of unnecessary additives making it glow like that.” Either way, it’s fun to look at.

The drink settled in two layers, with the coffee up top and the orange peanut butter goodness down below. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was supposed to mix it up, so I sampled each layer before even getting to that point.

I thought the orange layer was delicious. There was a pronounced peanutty flavor with a nice supporting chocolate accent that didn’t outshine the main attraction. It reminded me of a very thin peanut butter ice cream milkshake.

The consistency of the orange was so velvety and tasty, I was actually a little bummed that half the cup had coffee in it. I probably drank a bit too much of the orange on its own before I ultimately mixed the coffee in.

The coffee portion packed a nice wallop and only cut the peanut butter flavor slightly. I was drinking a strong espresso with a peanut butter cup flavor finish, and I can’t think of anything wrong with that.

I hope I’m not alone when I say this is probably the best new Dunkin’ drink I’ve had in years. I think I loved it.

With that said, this can’t be your everyday order. You wouldn’t wanna drink this every morning because it’s basically a dessert moonlighting as a morning coffee. I guess that’s a clever disguise just in time for Halloween.

Outside of that, and the fact it’s a bit more expensive than the standard menu items, I have no other knocks.

I’ll definitely be a repeat buyer, and now that I can add “peanut butter cup” pumps to any drink in the app, I’m probably gonna run this flavor into the ground.

The Peanut Butter Cup Macchiato didn’t appear on the “limited” section of Dunkin’s nutrition page, so hopefully, that means this might be a mainstay. Don’t risk it though, try it as soon as possible.

Purchased Price: $4.89
Size: Medium
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: NOTE: this is w/ whole milk. I used oat. (24 oz.) 280 calories, 6 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, 44 grams of sugar (including 32 grams of added sugar), and 8 grams of protein.