Jim's Pancakes

A new challange- Carousel Pancakes!

by Jim on 24. Aug, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Allie requested a carousel this weekend. A carousel? I didn’t think that she knew what a carousel was. I took her on one once, but that was a long time ago. I guess her memory is better than mine! Anyway, I was feeling up to the challenge and this is what we made:

A carousel pancake

I think it came out pretty good for a first try, but I think I’m going to have to revisit this one again. If I made the whole thing bigger I think I could get more detail in the animals. Right now I think they all look like fish. The next challenge was the roof. I really wanted that “circus tent” effect so I decided to use a mold. We had a bundt cake pan that seemed like it could do the job, so I heated it up in the oven at 450 degrees and then spread batter around the inner wall.

I put it back in the oven to cook for a bit and it came out pretty good. I had to cheat a little and embed some wooden skewers into the carousel animals so that the roof would stay up, it was kinda heavy. I’ll have to revise my molding technique so that I can save some weight on these things. By the time I was done Allie had already had a bunch of pancakes, so I ate this one. Not too bad…oven-cooked pancakes are actually pretty good.

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We made a birdhouse!

by Jim on 14. Aug, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Birdhouse pancake

Most fathers would have to go to Home Depot and buy some wood and nails to make a birdhouse for their kids. Not me. A little pancake batter and a hot griddle is all I need. Sure, birds can’t actually live in it and it wouldn’t last more than 5 minutes outside, but at least you can eat this one (Allie ate the whole thing!).

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All 3 year olds think that toilets are funny…

by admin on 30. Jul, 2010 in Pancake Photos

…and so do I!

The Potty Pancake

This one was created at the request of one of my cousins and it was a big hit at breakfast with the family. I guess toilets are inherently funny, Allie got a big laugh out of it. I made it by stacking a bunch of layers all together, a few chocolate chips at the bottom of the bowl complete the effect.

Next time I’ll make a version with the seat up

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Piano Pancakes

by admin on 30. Jul, 2010 in Pancake Photos

If I only had a bigger griddle, I could make a full size keyboard. I think this is big enough for Mary had a Little Lamb, but that’s about it.

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Summer’s hottest fashion – Pancake Sunglasses

by admin on 18. Jul, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus, we’ve been camping on the weekends lately so I haven’t had a lot of time to do Saturday pancakes in the kitchen. Anyway, we decided to make some awesome pancake glasses this morning, breakfast is always more fun when you can wear it. Note: add butter and syrup AFTER wearing the glasses otherwise you have to do bathtime twice. Next time we’ll add some sparkles for the full Elton John effect.

PS- Allie, I’m really sorry if anyone digs up this picture and makes fun of you in 15 years. I meant well.

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Summertime is here!

by admin on 08. Jul, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Summer is officially here…I know because anything over 70 degrees and I start to panic. To “celebrate” the summer season, I decided to make a watermelon pancake! Note: using real watermelon in pancake batter does NOT color it. It only makes a huge mess and wastes otherwise good pancake batter For this one I used some strawberry jam for coloring, it gave it a nice flavor and color. The seeds are colored with cocoa powder.

Enjoy!

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Who lives on a griddle under the sea? Spongebob Pancake!

by Jim on 26. Jun, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Allie doesn’t know who Spongebob is, this came through as a request from a reader on facebook. She’ll probably love the show in a few years, but for now we’re sticking to Nick Jr. and PBS. Anyway, he wasn’t too hard to make even though I managed to overcook his teeth and make him look like he drinks way too much coffee.

The brown color is cocoa, the red is colored with strawberry jelly and the yellow is a tiny amount of stale turmeric. Don’t use fresh turmeric because you can taste it. If it’s older it loses its flavor but maintains the coloring potential. A reader suggested it to me as an alternative to regular food dye if you are concerned about food coloring.

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Hello Pancake!

by Jim on 25. Jun, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Hello Kitty purse, Hello Kitty stuffed animal, Hello Kitty pencils, Hello Kitty clothes…now Allie can have Hello Kitty pancakes too!

This was really easy to do, it would be a great first-time pancake to try for your kids. Just draw the bow first, add an outline, eyes nose and whiskers and let it cook for a couple minutes. Fill it all in with a bunch of batter and you’re done- easy!

Maybe they’ll start selling these at the Hello Kitty store, they seem to have everything else in there

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A Cherry on a Spoon for Minneapolis!

by Jim on 23. Jun, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Cherry on a spoon pancake art

Just finished up an interview on KARE11 in Minneapolis…they really love pancakes in Minneapolis! I’ve never been there before, so I asked the producer for some suggestions for something to make that would represent their city. Apparently they have this giant sculpture of a cherry on a spoon in one of their parks, so I went for it.

Cherry on a spoon

In the side-by-side comparison, my pancake version looks a little sad, but it’s pretty hard to make a pancake spoon–as I found out. I had to cook just a little, then I heated up a ceramic bowl on the griddle. I let it cook the rest of the way on the ceramic bowl (the bowl was upside down) to hold the shape.

Either way, it was tasty. For the red color of the cherry I used some strawberry preserves (the kind without chunks of fruit) and it was delicious. I think I’m going to try apricot preserves for yellow coloring next time.

Thanks again to everyone at KARE11 for having me on, it was fun! I’ll post a link to the video as soon as I get it. — UPDATE— and here it is: Video Interview – KARE11

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Father’s Day Pancakes!

by Jim on 19. Jun, 2010 in Articles, Pancake Photos

Here’s a few ideas for making dad some special father’s day pancakes. First up, we have the golf pancakes. The trick to this one is to cook the golf club until it gets crispy on the outside, so that it can stand up.

Next, you want to create the putting green. Use a lot of batter so that the pancake is thick enough for you to insert the golf club into while it’s still on the griddle. This pancake is a no-flip pancake, so you should cook it on low heat for a long time to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. You could also finish it in the oven at 275 degrees for a few minutes.

Add a little syrup and you’re all set!

Next up – what father’s day wouldn’t be complete without an ugly tie?

These are pretty easy, you can make a bunch of them with left over colored batter. The more colors you use, the uglier they get

Finally, we have one of the best dad’s ever: Homer Simpson. You just have to make sure to drool a little and say “mmmmmmmm….pancakes…..” in a Homer voice as you eat it.