Party Pancakes

A family-favorite in our home is German pancakes. Quite simply, they are crepes, but the batter is mixed just slightly thicker than traditional crepe batter. This particular variation on the recipe is a fun way to brighten a grey morning or surprise your birthday boy or girl with a warm, festive breakfast.

Ingredients: 

1 cup Milk
1 cup Flour
1 Egg
1/4 tsp. Vanilla
Butter

optional – Cinnamon sugar or sprinkles

This recipe is VERY flexible and almost impossible to mess up. I start with these measurements and adjust depending on the number of servings I require or how thick I want the pancakes to come out.

Simply mix up the ingredients until completely smooth. If the batter is too thick, add more milk until you have the desired consistency…if you’ve thinned it too much, add more flour.  One batch should make 6-10 small to medium sized pancakes.

Tip: For cinnamon-y, sweet pancakes, mix a teaspoon or two of cinnamon sugar. They are delicious this way, straight from the pan, or wrapped around baked apple slices.

Butter up a frying pan and on medium heat, pour in some batter. I like to pour into the center of the pan and then lift and rotate the pan until the bottom of the pan is evenly covered so they stay nice and thin.

As the pancakes cook, they will brown from the outside in. The edges will firm up and you should see tiny bubbles appear as the center cooks through. You want to flip the pancake at this stage. Careful not to splatter!

After flipping, the opposite side will be cooked in under a minute, so watch carefully.

(If you want to make these colorful confetti pancakes, you need only to sprinkle some colored sprinkles (jimmies) immediately after you pour the batter into the pan. The sprinkles cook into the batter when you flip them, leaving a rainbow of mouth-watering fun!)

These pancakes taste delicious topped with real maple syrup, a dusting of confection sugar, preserves and jam, or even fresh fruit! Be as adventurous as you’d like!