Sunday, September 11, 2011

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Yes, I know you've all been waiting on me to post for just about forever, or a month. That whole college thing I'm doing is problematic and takes up all my time. So here goes!
"I ONLY EAT PANCAKES!" Audrey yelled as I tried to feed her anything but pancakes for lunch.

No, this is not an excerpt from a book, but a quick glimpse at my life as a nanny. I share a great love of pancakes like Audrey, but her idea of pancakes is putting M&Ms in them and dyeing it purple.

I actually spent a good hour compiling new and exciting pancake recipes to try, so I had to think of a good book so that I could share some of these new recipes. Because school has already started I don't have time to just sit and puzzle over books I've read that mention pancakes. Inspiration struck when I thought of the If You Give... series, I might just have to write a post for all the books.

I hesitate from quoting the book because it's a continual story, you can't just stop in the middle!

"If you give a pig a pancake, she'll want some syrup to go with it. You'll give her some of your favorite maple syrup. She'll probably get all sticky, so she'll want to take a bath." Numeroff
I would highly recommend reading especially once you get down in that mid-semester rut, go to the children’s section of the library and read some books that you read when you were a kid!
Really Ugly Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (Just ugly was already taken)
Yield: 4 servings (4 pancakes) Prep Time: 25 min Cook Time: 10 min
Ingredients:
PANCAKES:
1 heaping cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten, add a
second egg if your batter isn’t fluffy enough
CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Prepare pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, oil and egg, just until batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).

2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside. You don't want it to be really runny. It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste, so squeezable. *I think ours was too thick and looked more like poop than toothpaste, see poopy looking cinnamon mixture below.
3. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract; set aside.
4. Heat large skillet over medium-low heat, if it is too high the sugar will burn! Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about a 1/2 cup batter onto the skillet. Snip the corner of your baggie of filling and squeeze a spiral of the filling onto the top of the pancake. **Our sugar started burning so we added a bit more batter on top of the cinnamon sugar filling to prevent the sugar from burning. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

5. When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze onto the top of each pancake. Eat and then probably lay down for a while because they're super rich!
Tips:
*Keep the heat low or your pancakes might cook up too quickly. Don't flip them until you see those bubbles starting to pop on top. Flip them with a wide spatula so you can grasp the whole thing without batter and filling dripping all over the place!

*It's best if you pour the batter onto your skillet, wait a minute or so and then swirl the cinnamon onto the batter. That'll give it a chance to set a little before you add the swirl.

*If your baggie of filling begins to get too thick, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up again. On that same note, it shouldn't be too runny. The consistency of soft toothpaste is perfect. If it's melty and runny, it will tend to run all over your pancakes. Once you micro it, let it sit on the counter at room temp for a while until it thickens slightly.
*Between pancakes take a damp paper towel and carefully wipe up your skillet, helpful for those of us who burnt sugar on their skillet.
*You might want to double the recipe, we got about 4.5 pancakes, yes a half pancake just go with it.

For more pancake fun check out some of these recipes:
I think these are absolutely adorable!
Maybe a little too rich for breakfast but, they look really yummy!
I could keep going with the pancakes but I’ll try to stop now.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Make me some pancakes! I want the watermelon ones.

Carrie said...

I love that book - and all the others in her series! I'm anxiousily waiting for your "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" post ;)