Smiley-Face Pancakes -- Good Morning!

It's been a while since I've had kids living in the house, as for me, I haven't been a kid since the Nixon Administration.  Despite these two things, however, I still occasionally get a hankering to make some kid-friendly food.  Things that I know would have made my boys smile and enjoy their meal much more so because of the extra effort and creativity.

This morning while fixing pancakes I decided to get in touch with my inner child and play around a bit, the end result were these smiley pancakes.  Easy, delicious, and FUN, you alone will have a great time with these, but with kids it should be a real fiesta.  And really, admit it, don't you want to be known as the best mom (or grandma) on the block?  neighborhood?  world?!  Well, I can't guarantee that making these pancakes will do it, but it can't hurt.

Here's what I did.  I followed the directions on the Bisquick box to make a simple batch of pancakes.  From this mixture I removed 1/3 cup of batter, put it in a small bowl and added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of Hershey's Dark Cocoa, stirring both in well to make a darker batter.

 I warmed up the Griddle (I use a Cuisinart Griddler - love it!) and, using a small spoon, dipped it into the dark batter and carefully dropped batter onto the hot surface to make eyes and a mouth.  Wrong!  Don't do this unless you want pancakes with a bit of a sneer.  

Okay, I put the spoon in the sink, and grabbed a small icing bottle, poured the dark batter into the icing bottle and found this worked much better.  (In my haste, however I grabbed the icing bottle from the Dollar Store and found the tip kept getting clogged, so next time I'm going to use the nicer one that I got from Kitchen Conservatory.  As I said, I was just playing around, you can benefit from my mistakes and be well prepared when you decide to make them.) I formed eyes and a mouth on the Griddler, let them cook for about 30 seconds and then used a 1/4 cup measure to pour a circle of batter on top of this.  I let them cook until bubbles rose to the surface and flipped them over.  Cute!  Even my husband got a laugh out of these.  

(You can see the sneering pancake at the top of this picture.)

The dark batter really doesn't stand out in taste because of the small amount, but what I did taste was really good and I may just consider chocolate-cinnamon pancakes in the future.  I also tried things other than faces like polka dots, stripes, and plaid with only so-so results.  Imagine, though, making Jack-O-Lantern faces on pumpkin pancakes!  The variations are endless and you are only limited by your, or your child's imagination.

Who could possibly resist a breakfast that smiles back at you?

Have fun, and have a great Sunday!

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