Fun with pancakes

I don't like pancakes.

Not really.

Let's face it, pancakes are pretty boring. They exist almost exclusively as an excuse for people to eat lots of butter and syrup. But I make them a lot. Almost every week, in fact. Because my daughter loves pancakes. And I have found that you can take even the most banal and uninteresting foods and make them...fun.

So in the interest of parent-child relationships, I am going to share a very easy way to to take the boring, lifeless pancake and turn it in to a celebration of breakfast.

All you need is some pancake batter, some food colouring, squeeze bottles and some creativity.

The recipe itself is very straightforward. The mix - the dry stuff - I make in bulk.

The Mix:

4 cups flour
3 Tbs baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar

Mix all of the ingredients and store them in an airtight container.

Now when you are ready to make the pancakes you have your very own homemade mix.


The Batter:
1 cup pancake mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 Tbs butter, melted

Add them all to a bowl and whisk together.

Now comes the fun part.

Adding some colour.

Here's where you'll need the food colouring and the squeeze bottles. I use four 12-oz. squeeze bottles. They can be purchased at most any store where you can buy kitchen supplies or you can find them online. Divide the batter between the squeeze bottles (I use four, but you can use as few or as many you'd like based on your coulour needs) and add whatever colouring you want to each bottle.

It is important to mix the colours into the batter very well and to go bright! As you cook your pancake creations the colours will become more muted and fade a bit as the batter browns.

Now heat up your griddle or put your skillet on the stove. You want to use a lower heat than you normally would for pancakes because you will need time to work with the various colours - I set my griddle at about 275°F.

Get creative.

Using your squeeze bottle very much like a like a pen, create outlines and fill them in with various colours.

If you are uncomfortable with free-hand drawing, you can use cookie cutters as templates and just fill in and embellish.

The only limit is your imagination, and the slow heat of the griddle.

 My daughter loves giraffes and butterflies.

And flowers.

The ends result is a wonderfully fun breakfast. And pancakes that are no longer just a vehicle of syrup and butter, but a stand-alone meal!

Enjoy!