Take your pancake game up a few notches this Shrove Tuesday. This is SUCH an easy technique with great results. Plus an easy, delicious pancake recipe.
I bet you think that’s your average, stunningly beautiful stack of pancakes. That would be an excellent guess because that’s what it looks like from the side.
Now let’s look at that stack from a different angle.
That’s right. You’re going to make pancakes with faces! Yes you are, because it’s just as easy as making regular pancakes. Cross my heart.
Or if you aren’t into portraiture, you might want to go with monogrammed pancakes.
Or a little something that says “How many times do I have to tell you to put the seat down, I FELL IN THE TOILET AGAIN LAST NIGHT.”
You can get extra fancy if you want and do shapes.
Or super-duper fancy by doing actual faces. The pancake possibilities are endless.
O.K., who wants to learn how to do it??
Pancake Faces for Shrove Tuesday
EASY way to make pancakes way more fun. Pancake faces!
Tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday otherwise known as Pancake Tuesday otherwise known as Fat Tuesday. Basically it’s a Tuesday for filling your face with as much fatty, delicious, pillowy pancakes as possible. The tradition is religious in nature. Certain faiths do it to get as much fat into them as possible prior to Lent. For everyone else it’s the one night of the year you don’t have to worry about what to have for dinner.
You’re having pancakes.
There’s nothing worse than waking up Wednesday morning and realizing you forgot Pancake Tuesday. Nothing. So I wanted to make sure I reminded you all. I say this as someone who doesn’t even really like Pancakes. French Toast Tuesday? Yeah, that would never be forgotten in my house.
TIPS
Here are a few tips on getting these Face Pancakes right.
- Cook them on low heat.
- Add the filling batter when the “face” just starts to bubble a little bit.
- If doing words or letters you have to do a mirror image of them (do them backwards) so when you flip the pancake over it will be readable.
- Try to add allllll your filling batter at once and quickly. This way your pancake will have an even colour and not be splotchy.
- Once your pancakes are bubbling that means they’re ready to flip.
- If the batter spreads out beyond your outline, just trim them with a knife before you serve them.
Basic Pancake Recipe. Nothing fancy. No weird ingredients. Just pancakes. With a TWIST!
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or other light flavoured oil
- Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl mix together the egg, milk, cooking oil and vanilla.
- Add wet mixture to dry mixture, stirring just until combined. Your batter should be lumpy.
- Add a few small scoops of the batter to a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Pour this smooth mixture into a plastic squeeze bottle.
- Lightly butter a non stick pan and heat over medium/low.
- Squeeze your face design onto the pan.
- Once the design starts to bubble, ladle the regular pancake mix over the face.
- Cook until bubbles form, then flip.
- Cook a minute or so longer then remove from pan.
Keep pancakes warm in 210 f degree oven.
I discovered this technique while watching one of my new favourite shows. One of my favourite shows of all time as a matter of fact. It’s called Please Like me and you can read about it here “3 Shows You Should be Watching“.
The world needs to know about Pancake Faces. Don’t do it for me. Do it for the woman out there who needs a new way to tell her sock dropping husband he sucks.
Clever!
So fun. Love your video.
I am going to find a squeeze bottle tomorrow, come hell or high water. Dollar store? Target? Grocery store? Someone’s got to have it. Anything to make pancakes better.
here in ontario, canada, dollorama has baking squeeze bottles for a buck, or fancy schmansy red, batter specific, squeeze bottles that look like a plastic bellows for a couple of bucks….i think that is about four cents in american….look in with the kitchen gagdets..
Quick & easy. I like it!
And I think I pass the pop quiz… the trick I used was to con my granddaughter into helping with the housework. I moved the heavy furniture, she crawled along behind the couches and beds and wiped the skirting boards. 🙂 The rest was a breeze! Do I get 10 / 10?
10 out of 10? Nope-you get 11!
Bonus points are always awarded for Tom Sawyering a kid.
Like I said, you get a gold star just for not telling me to go screw myself. And yes, extra points for child labour. ~ karen!
These are very nice, but if you really want to set the bar high, take a look at http://saipancakes.com/ … they guy is the absolute master of pancake art.
WOW! I thought I was good when I added banana slices for eyes, but just amateur! I’ve made these all my life like my dad did for us before BUT using the squeeze bottle and trying new shapes? I always learn from Karen!
Fun! (And I love your stove!)
Cute! I use to make faces for my kids, but not so fancy doing it. My dad made the best pancakes, they were sourdough pancakes. Every Saturday morning the whole time I was growing up, including when we had company, there was always pancakes. Yum! Thanks for the video! 🙂
Fun pancakes! I’m going to make some and impress my family! What kind of pan are you using? It looks like a plate and it looks nonstick. I want one. Where can I find it? Also I love your chickens!! Cuddles was my favorite too. I’m sorry about her.
I ate pancakes for breakfasr this morning in case I forget to on Tuesday. In Kansas we had pancake races and pancake suppers! Fun times. But, today, Super Wok Day Sunday, my “handy-boy” and I moved the newly painted dresser into the house, put it togeather and put the knobs on ot, took apart my 24 year-old daughter’s old wooden swing set in the side back yard, took apart the rotting backyard wooden glider, pruned a huge Pyracantha bush back to the trunk, removed Pyracantha thorns from thumbs, power washed the pool deck to get the Pyracantha gunk off of the cool decking and then fell into the mud from the power-washing while trying to break off at the roots some other big dead trunk of something else over by that evil Pyracantha. I didn’t touch the darn baseboards or doorknobs because I forgot!!
But maybe this all counts as extra credit?? Because I went outside for recess almost all day? It was a good day and now I can’t move!
Yay, Pancake Tuesday! Because I don’t like pancakes either, I’m excited for the reason you mentioned; I don’t have to figure out what to make for dinner on Tuesday. And, agreed, I would never forget French toast Tuesday.
Ok, neat. Except I just always made the faces with a bottle of Hersheys choclate ice cream topping. Or, is that what you were doing? Guess I didn’t read very well. Do I go down another grade point now? Sorry! I do like reading your posts, though. Well, maybe think I’m reading them.
Faces with chocolate ice cream topping? After they cooked? and it didn’t run? I’m afraid it would just look like I used topping instead of syrup. I tried to make mickey mouse once…he transformed into Bugs Bunny.
:/
TUSCONPATTY you sound like one of my sisters. She’s an overachiever, and the other sister and I always feel like she only does that to make us look bad. It’s not why she does it, it’s just the way she is, but we still think it’s why Mom always liked her best. I just thought you should know that if you have sisters, they won’t give you extra points, but they will still love you.
Ha! I have 8 (yes!) sisters, and they did give me a little grief, but only because I asked if there was some kind of game on Sunday…what was everyone talking about…? I love to mess with them. I just simply am not a sports person and they know it and expect me to ask some wierd question ( “Now, which kind of ball do they use for that game?”) and they know I’m spoofing them, but it is fun.
that looks brilliant! great post
I don’t like it …I love it!?
Love it! Way less fuss than the rainbow pancakes…. And by fuss I mean bowls to clean! Although, truth be told, I love the rainbow pancakes and for the longest time kids thought they all had different flavours.
Could we have face waffles instead? And how would you change the batter recipe to make it a waffle batter recipe? My hubby makes pancakes or waffles every Sunday and I never realized how much cheaper it would be to make from scratch instead of with a box of baking mix! I’ll have to mix up a big batch of the dry ingredients and put it in a baking mix box, because he thinks if you make something from scratch you have to dirty up everything in the kitchen.
Just love this!! Each pancake made me smile more!! And I love the opening photo – can I ask how you got the black background or is this just something everyone should already know?
No, there’s no reason for you to know that Joslynne. Although when I tell you, you’ll think OH!!!! Of course. It’s just a large piece of black foam core board. A cheaper version would be a a few pieces of black bristol board taped together. When I didn’t have any of those things I used to use a long black coat as a backdrop. Anything will do really. Fabric, paper … the only thing that’s important is that it’s very black and very matte. Any shine and you’ll get highlights and glare. ~ karen!
Pampake Tuesday. That’s what it was when our children were small and we still say it that way..my fave !!
We’ve seen the pancake designs before, but my 22 month old son loved your video. I think we will be having pancakes tomorrow for sure. He especially loved when you said Ohh! Grrr!-he said it right along with you.
In all seriousness, though, if you really want to up your pancake game what you really need to do is google cinnamon roll pancakes right this minute. I mean it. Do it. Your life will never be the same. Even if you aren’t a pancake person like me.
Even if I don’t make faces..have to make your pancakes..they are perfection!
Ok ok..I will try a design;)
Love the video! Will definitely try this tomorrow night if any of my teenaged kids happen to be home for dinner, not likely. I have the same gas range, blue star, right? Love it!
Blue Star! My only issue with it is how hot the knobs and front of it get when the oven is on high. Yikes. ~ karen!
Really? Wow, my knobs don’t heat up too much. I mean the knobs on the stove, haha! I have two of these and the first one, at our cottage, the oven heats up soooooo slowy. The newer one, at home, heats up much faster, but again haven’t noticed the knobs becoming too hot to touch at all.
Love the video, reminds me of when my dad used his 8 mm camera to take videos of us on vacation when I was a little girl. Thank you for that, today is his birthday – he would have been 93.
THANK YOU! I can’t wait to try this! I love the “You suck” one! LOLOL
I’ve been hungry for a Dutch Baby for 3 days and haven’t yet pulled myself up early enough to make it. So, the blueberries I bought are beginning to age and I HAVE to eat them now. So, your post couldn’t be timelier. I love to paint and draw so I have a couple more ideas to create pancake pictures for this fun lunch. Can you guess where the cashew will go?
Those are ADORABLE, Karen!!! Gee, is there anything you can’t do?! I’m immediately sending this to my daughter (the one who hid her spit-out chicken in her pj drawer). If I threaten to tell her kids about the pj’s, I just KNOW she will make these clever, clever pancakes on Tuesday! It’s so much fun being a grandmother!
I first read that as, Pancakes with Feces. Which, oddly enough, did not surprise me in the least.
I can’t quit snorfling (snorting and laughing?)
that was hilarious!
My pancake story! I used to make shaped pancakes for my little girl all the time. elephants, giraffes cats, houses , trees, hearts whatever the season or fancy of the day…one day I am rushed rushed rushed…no time for fun shapes so I make regular circular pancakes and that sweet sweet girl sat and looked at them and thought and then squealed I KNOW! they are swimming pools! Always. take. the. time.
I love that story!
I can’t believe no one else has mentioned your resemblance to Helen Mirren in the Super Bowl ad yesterday. I think she is fabulous – in acting and in looks! You two seem to have the same haircut, but there is even more similarity in your features. Congratulations on looking like a star! (And I love pancakes.)
Hey K, gotta question fer ya! I’ve invited my 3 great nieces and nephew for pancakes tomorrow and I just wondered which of your two recipes do you recommend the most . . . this one or the buttermilk? I already have an official pancake batter squeeze bottle and can’t wait to try this! I love love love being a “Graunty”. My husband refuses to be a ” Gruncle” so he’s Uncle John the Great. Thanks for your timely post! I just might have to sashay over to my Dollarama for some Mardi Gras style sparkly necklaces. Love sparkly.
Just use the recipe from this post Jan, and if you want to make them buttermilky, either use buttermilk or sour your milk. If found these pancakes to be really good. Fluffy but still dense enough to not feel like you’re eating air. ~ karen!
Post Pancake Tuesday true confession time. Ended up NOT doing the whole pancake-with-faces thing but DID make your buttermilk pancake recipe from way back and omg, they were really delish!! Even my fella who doesn’t usually care about pancakes because they make him feel “hoopy” (i.e. barfy) if he has to many, said he didn’t feel that way at all. Now, there’s a ringing endorsement lol!!
I just love your pancakes Karen and I’m going to try them tomorrow…
my recipe for pancakes from scratch is very close to yours except for the vanilla…
I’ll try that too…mmm-mmm…thanks for all your posts …great work…thanks
have you seen the ad on tv for the walking dead where the fellow makes pancakes that look like the characters? ‘course, don’t know what his would taste like … probably not nearly as delish!
Here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country tomorrow is Fasnacht Day…Fasnachts are raised and fried donuts…plain or sugared…I love them warm and fresh best…Many churches will be up way early tomorrow making them fresh and selling them as a fund raiser…I think most charge about $9.00 per box of one dozen…Thanks for the good pancake recipe and the clever idea…
You forgot to mention that any letters need to be mirror image or when you flip them, they are reversed. Learned that after my kindergarten daughter took one look and said “Mom, that’s not how you do a ‘J’ “. I thought I could slip it by her because she was still young enough. Nope!
I gave a little mention of that in the video actually Connie. 🙂 ~ karen!
Oops! Didn’t watch the video! My daughter was right all those 30 mumble mumble years ago! Moms not very swift! Lol!
30 mumble mumble, lol. ~ karen!
Thanks for the reminder. My daughter will be thrilled.
I have the same ‘set’ of cutlery in my drawer of various utensils 🙂
What? No cleaver-cake?
Ha She grew ears. Me laugh 🙂
That was one well used tab of butter. It made it through 5 different plates of pancakes. LOL
Well done. Love the idea for faced pancakes. Will try it next breakfast camping w the Scouts.
Thank you for the 2018 Pancake Tuesday alert! and a nice recipe. Have squeeze bottle, Tuesday night supper sorted. ♥
Ok I’ll be the stupid question. What is Pancake Tuesday? Either I truly am going senile or I’ve never heard of it. Either way is equally possible.
OK, that’s it – that looks like too much fun AND yummy. I’m going to make some tonight!
Pinterest is being a little bitchy this morning: Something went wrong Sorry! We blocked this link because it may lead to spam. I used your link to get there.
These look great fun!
We were just discussing whether (of course) to eat pancakes tonight and your post was in my Bloglovin email. It’s fate!
Pancakes it is! ~ karen
I LOVE PANCAKE TUESDAY!!!!!
Seconds after publishing my post last night about Pancake Tuesday, I took out a roast to make stew tonight. What is wrong with me, lol? I’ll save the roast for tomorrow. Pancakes tonight! ~ karen
Can’t wait to do this with my grandkids at our next family breakfast. I shared this with their mommas so they can try it. Thanks for sharing always learn cool stuff with you. Now off to get a squeeze bottle…..
OH HOORAY! Welcome back from Christmas… and then some! And thanks! Now I will have to eat pancakes on Saturday.
Is the nutrition chart for the recipe new?
Hey Smarti. Yup! It’s new. That’s part of what I was working on in January. Not nearly all of the recipes are completed, but I got a start on them. I ate pancakes tonight with bacon and now I think I’ll have that every night for dinner, except I won’t have pancakes, I’ll make French Toast. And mini sizzlers. And the odd time I’ll probably make stew or chili or tofu. Actually I probably won’t have pancakes again for dinner until next Shrove Tuesday. ~ karen!
I don’t know how I missed this post till now, but now it is too late to eat pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, unless I quick drive down to IHOP! Oh well. I reread all the comments, and snorted and laughed over the same comment that I snorted and laughed about two years ago about Pancakes with Feces.
FYI – The tradition came about when they tried to use up all the fats on the Tuesday before Lent. They wouldn’t eat the sweet treats for that period of weeks and the fats would have gone bad. So they make the treats to use it up and the tradition was born. Here in Pa it’s fauschnauts but pancakes or traditional donuts work as well.
It is the best show! Have you seen the one where Josh takes his Mum and Dad to a Degustation meal? Gold.
My wife, Katie, and I made your pancakes together on this fine Valentine’s Day. They were good. We were worried about the thin batter, but that baking powder kicked in and they puffed up a little. We’ll save that recipe for later use!
Great! Yeah, I’m not in love with super-huge fluffy pancakes. They’re too cakey for me, so these are a bit thinner, but like you said fluff up. ~ karen!
Hey Karen, only just seen this so as we have pancakes regularly i’ll give it a try your way BUT (yes, i know a big butt) have you ever seen the pintrosity pancake fails…just search it and enjoy