Sunday, December 7, 2014

For the love of pancakes...



My kids love pancakes.  Love them.  I mean, WORSHIP them.  If I would let Abbi, she could eat them at every meal.  THEY LOVE PANCAKES.

And every once in awhile I try and do things to spice up the routine.  Blueberries and Strawberries are always a hit.  Chocolate Chip cakes will be eaten before I can even sit down.  A trip to IHOP is like a trip to Meccah for them.

This week I saw a video on Facebook about how you can make cute pancakes for the holidays using metal cookie cutters.  I should have scrolled past it; I should have ignored it.  But I was intrigued.  I thought, "Hey maybe we could start a new Christmas Morning tradition of adorable little pancakes instead of Cinnamon Rolls."


(Nope, these are not mine.  Now, read on.)

So here's what happened, complete with pictures.

The directions (I wish I could find the original video) said to dip the clean metal cookie cutters in a small bowl of oil.  

Check.

Then you place the cookie cutter on the griddle.

Check.

Then lovingly pour batter into the molds and let them cook until they bubble.


Check.

When you are ready to flip the pancakes, simply use a pair of pliers to lift the mold from the griddle, as the metal will be hot, and flip the cake as you normal would.

Hold Up.

The mention of using pliers should have been my clue that this was not going to go down like I wanted it to.

Here is attempt one, with using the oil dipped cutters as instructed.  (I really wish I could find that damn video).





See the problem?  If one can lift a Gingerbread Man up with the pliers and the cake remains in the cutter, this is obviously not working.  What I was left with was a sad assortment of angels with missing wings and topless trees.

Not to be a quitter, I thought for a minute and came up with a BRILLIANT idea.  I have some Pillsbury cooking spray with flour in it so that your cakes don't stick to the pan.  This will HAVE to work.

Right?



I know what you are thinking before you even say it.  Genius, right?  Smartest woman alive, right?  I know, I thought that, too.

And speaking of "too", this, too, was a fail.  While the cakes came out a little easier, I was still missing corners and key parts.



With a big sigh, I decided to try one more idea.  I know, you might think this one is Earth shattering, but it's practical and simple and what we should all do.





That's right.  I made the d@#n pancakes the good old fashioned way.

You know what?

They ate them, all of them.  And they didn't care what shape they were in because they wanted them buttered and then cut into a million small pieces and drowning in syrup.

I have (once again) learned my Pintrest lesson the hard way.  Just because someone else's pancakes come out looking like they have been doing it all their lives doesn't mean that mine have to.

Which reminds me, I need to start on those Pintrest "Reindeer Pastry Bags with Hot Chocolate Mix"...... .because I am a glutton for punishment.