My grandmother made them....but she didn't call them poffertjes....she called them buckwheat pancakes. she learned from I think from her mother in law.
She mixed up the batter and let it sit over night.....never saw a recipe....it was just the way she did it.
And yes....without the buckwheat flour you just have small pancakes. Asking why you have to use buckwheat flour is like asking why you have to use cinnamon in cinnamon rolls......
Buckwheat is not a wheat....it's more like rice.....and very dark and very nutty.
Dutch pancakes are pretty well a mix of buckwheat and white flour....mixed up with yeast water milk an egg or 2 and a bit of brown sugar or molasses.
Mix, cover with a linen towel, let sit over night, stir down in the morning and cook in a very well buttered pan.

A cake pop pan won't work for real poffertjes...a cake pop pan is meant for baked goods, these are cooked on a stove top.
Even an aebelskeever pan is not right....too small on the bottom and too thick in the middle. You would be better off just making small pancakes on a buttered griddle or frypan.

Makes sense, Linda. I love anything nutty so there probably was more to me liking them than just the toppings. But I do think there's something to them being puffed up that makes them so tasty, and that's not something that would be possible on a fry pan.

I don't make Poffertjes, but I make aebleskiver.

There are similarities in the techniques and the pans.

youtube has many videos to show.

dcarch

They puff because of the yeast....very possible in a fry pan....just put about 1 1/2 tablespoons at a time in either a cast iron pan or on a griddle....don't think you can get a non stick hot enough.
Or do as I do and just make small pancakes...they are larger than the traditional poffertjes....but the flavor is there.