Haunted Castle Halloween Cake Recipe

Happy Halloween!

Today I’m sharing the Haunted Castle Halloween Cake we made this year.

The mold is from the princess party I threw the girls years ago. It’s the Nordic Ware Pro Cast Castle Bundt Pan. I’d kind of forgotten about it and we recently discovered it in the back of a cabinet.

Well, it’s October, right? So now it’s officially no longer a castle cake pan, but a HAUNTED castle cake pan!

But how should we go about it?

I had a hard time covering it with icing last time I used it, and besides, I wanted it spooky this time.

So I did some research and put together a pourable icing with a fudge-like consistency. AND I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder. The dark chocolate adds a great flavor, plus it makes it a darker color – almost black.

For the cake itself, I went with chocolate.

A regular box mix, ’cause hey – I don’t have time to make everything from scratch, amiright?

Just make sure you spray down the cake pan with a non-stick spray first.

Preferably one with flour already in it, like Baker’s Joy.

Following the directions on the box, we wound up with just enough from one box to almost fill the mold. Two boxes would have been way too much.

You can see that the cake batter rose plenty high enough.

True, we didn’t get the detail around the bottom, like that ramp up to the gate, but it was honestly not noticeable once the cake was turned upright.

After cooling in the pan for about 5 minutes, if you sprayed it well, it should pop out with minimal effort.

A bit of tapping and poof! Cake.

Sure, a few turrets suffered some damage, but overall it looks pretty darned nice to me.

For the icing, we went with a pourable fudge sauce.

And like I mentioned above, the dark chocolate makes the most amazingly spooky color!

And my pot is pretty big. I made extra so we would have it, but there was a LOT left over. You can just follow the recipe and you’ll have plenty.

Use a small measuring cup or a spoon to drizzle the icing slowly over your dessert, stirring the icing from time to time. It does harden fairly quickly.

As you go, be sure to scoop the icing out of the center. It will pool there.

It’s best to drizzle it over waxed paper. Then, once the cake is fully coated, you can move it with two spatulas onto your serving platter.

Our final step was decorating!

We drew some ghosts by hand with melted white candy melts and added miniature chocolate chips for eyes and mouths.

Those only take a few minutes to harden, then you can add them to the cake by squeezing some of the melted chocolate onto the cake to act as glue.

We also added some candy corn and Mellocreme pumpkins.

Here are the instructions for making the icing.

Make sure your cake is fully cooled before you try and decorate it.

Chocolate Fudge Pourable Icing

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup whole milk

3-1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Melt butter in pot on stove top. 

Once melted, whisk in cocoa, vanilla, and milk. 

Add in a small scoop of powdered sugar at a time, until you’ve added it all.  Be sure to whisk while adding the sugar.

Remove pot from heat.  Keep whisking until smooth. 

Slowly pour icing over cake or other dessert with a spoon or small measuring cup. 

You can download the PDF of the recipe here:

(The arrows on the top right will offer you more options if you don’t see the “print” button. There is also a “download” button beneath the document.)

Store the cake covered. It will taste best if eaten within a few days. The extra icing will keep in the refrigerator for a couple weeks.

If you make a Haunted Castle cake of your own, please share with me on my Facebook page!

Happy Baking!

Halloween Spider’s Eggs Brownies

Roaming Rosie Halloween Spiders Eggs Brownies

This is the type of Halloween dessert I love – satisfyingly spooky but quick to put together. Because let’s face it, I make a lot of Halloween-themed meals all month long, and I can’t spend hours and hours on each one!

These Spider’s Eggs Brownies were constructed with an easy shopping list and can be made ahead of time. In this case, I brought these brownies to a potluck. They’re really easy to travel with (don’t forget something to cut them!) but you could always make them in a more permanent pan just as easily.

Here’s the shopping list:

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients listed on box)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 tube white cookie icing
1/4 cup sugar pearls
1 package Halloween toy spider rings
1 disposable foil cake pan (optional)

(These items should be readily available in your local grocery/big box/dollar store around Halloween, but if they’re not, try the links posted above.)

As you can see from the photos above, I wanted to fill these brownies full of delicious spider eggs! Mixing in those white chocolate chips really helps to highlight this.

Instructions:

  1. Make the brownies according to the instructions on the box.
  2. Mix the white chocolate chips into the batter.
  3. Pour batter into pan of choice and bake according to instructions on the box.
  4. Allow cooked brownies to cool completely.
  5. Draw a spider web on top of cooled brownies with cookie icing.
  6. Before icing dries, sprinkle sugar pearls over the icing so they stick.
  7. Add in a few spider rings by pressing them into the top.
  8. Freak out your friends and coworkers!

I’ve found brownies to be a pretty safe bet for satisfying the greatest amount of people at a party. I do have a tried-and-true homemade brownie recipe, but if I’m in a rush, I mix a few chocolate chips into a box mix.

And, if it’s Halloween, I spookify it.

Share some of your brownie creations with me on Facebook!

Happy Baking!

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

We’re into summer now but I’m still enjoying this spring treat. And really, who says we can’t eat Lemon Poppy Seed Cake all year anyway?

Of course, I’m a sucker for lemon flavored desserts (hehehe, but no seriously, I am).

That’s why I’ve made things like:

Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Lemon Oatmeal Cookies

Easy Iced Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

and even Lemon Scented Play Dough

However, I recently realized that I’d never actually made my own lemon poppy seed bread or muffins. So I went on a search.

Often I like to play around with food and develop my own recipes, but in this case I found one that I really loved, so the only actual change I made was doubling (okay, maybe it was double-and-a-halving) the icing.

I know the photos look all crumbly, moist, and delicious but, oh my, I wish you could smell it! Yum.

Look at all those incredible ingredients coming together.

*drool commencing*

And then you pull this gorgeous creation out of the oven…

I actually had some waxed paper under that while I drizzled the icing allllll over it. (Just a tip. Much easier to clean.)

Gorgeous, no? Yes.

The recipe is Lemon Poppy Seed Bread from Sally’s Baking Addiction. If you’re a fan of lemon breads and desserts like me, I recommend checking it out!

Okay, can’t stop looking at the pretty bread. One more pic…

If you have any other lemon treats you enjoy and recommend, I’d love to hear about it!

Happy Baking!

The Epic Poop Cake

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Poop . . . CAKE!?

Now, I know that normally the words “poop” and “cake” are not something you see together in the same sentence.

But “funny chocolate cake?”

Yeah.

I could get behind that.

We’ve been celebrating the kids’ birthdays this week and our birthday conversations seem to inevitably circle back to the epic Poop Cake that I made a couple of years ago for my husband’s birthday.

It left quite an impression.

But it was also SO easy to make. And if you follow my blog you know that my favorite type of recipes are the easy ones – that also happen to be delicious.

I’m sharing the process today more than an actual recipe (um, it was totally a box mix). But if you know anyone who is a fan of toilet humor and chocolate, then you’ll definitely want to try this out. It’s pretty much a guaranteed hit.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 box chocolate cake mix (I like this one)

3 tubs chocolate icing (like these)

1 tube decorating icing (like this)

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Chocolate sprinkles

Plastic toy toilet (we used this wrestling toy toilet)

Candles (optional numbers like this)

Another thing I should mention is that we freely curse in my house. So, yeah, the cake says “crap,” but if you’re uncomfortable with that, you can totally sanitize it for any kiddos around. Or not.

Depending on your normal vocabulary, here are three options:

“Holy Crap, You’re Old!”

“Holy Shit, You’re Old!”

“Holy Poop, You’re Old!” (This one gets the message across to kids but adults still get the underlying double entendre.)

I will warn you: if you jump in and fully commit to making a cake covered in poo, kids will ask why. They’ll want to be in on the joke. For us, this was no issue at all. Crap=Poop and dayum my hubby is old. It’s the big 4-0! Holy shit!

Some of the other gifts and decor mimicked this phrase. I did manage to find this one that managed to match the sentiment of the cake perfectly:

The embroidered toilet paper is from Etsy. (Going for romantic? Try this instead.)

I can’t find this particular poop squishy for sale anymore but here’s a similar one.

I also found poop emoji Easter eggs (the popularity of the poop emoji in recent years helped greatly with decorating!)

The rest of the signs and banners and streamers generally matched the color scheme: black with touches of gold and silver. I kept all of that fairly neutral so the focus would be on the humorous pieces.

Oh and that toy toilet? We didn’t just throw it out afterwards. It was an accessory for wrestling figurines so it happened to fit perfectly in the Barbie house. Dual purpose, yo.

So, how did I put together the cake?

Good question. This playful hunk of deliciousness was a pretty straightforward process. Check out the supplies I listed above. Most should be available in your local grocery store and you’re not making anything from scratch here so it shouldn’t be overwhelming.

And remember – always remember – homemade doesn’t have to look perfect! (Especially if it’s swirls of poo. Just saying.)

Step one: make the cake. Follow the package directions to make two 8-inch rounds of cake and let them cool completely. If they puffed up too much with big round tops, trim them flat. If they’re mostly flat already, just leave them as they are.

I suggest getting 3 tubs of pre-made icing, though you may be able to get by with two. I tend to be a bit paranoid about running out of things mid-cooking while prepping for parties so sometimes I overestimate. Besides, those things are shelf stable.

Here’s one of the fun parts. I forgot to photograph the inside of this cake (or a slice) but there’s an extra layer of chocolatey goodness. I did show pics on my post about the Merida cake I made, so check out those photo examples here. Essentially, place one layer on a plate or cardboard tray, and smear chocolate icing all over it. Then sprinkles those milk chocolate chips over the icing. Then take the other layer of cake, flip it so the flat bottom is now up, and place it on top.

Those chocolate chips inside add extra flavor and texture. I totally recommend it.

Now that you’ve got the basic cake base, spread chocolate icing over the whole thing. Before it sits too long and starts to harden, take handfuls of the chocolate sprinkles and press them into the side of the cake.

Next, scoop some of the icing into a decorating bag or a gallon sized plastic bag with one corner snipped off. Make the poop decorations by swirling the bag as you squeeze out the tiny piles along the top.

I also put one big pile right behind where I placed the number candles.

The final step is the decorations and text. Press the toy toilet into the cake, add the number candles if you’re using them, and write out your message with some decorating icing.

Then dump a handful of miniature chocolate chips into the open toy toilet and voila – a mildly inappropriate but wildly entertaining birthday cake!

Nothing left but to blow out the candles and enjoy.

If you make your own, please share with me! Leave a comment here or post a pic on my Facebook page.

Happy Baking!

Spiderweb Cinnamon Rolls

spiderweb cinnamon rolls

This is one of those recipes that’s so stinkin’ cute but also super easy.

Halloween is a time of year when we eat a lot of “fun” foods.

(Yeah I said “time of year.”  It ain’t just a single day in this family – we celebrate for at least a month … but I’m always up for something spooky.)

So I like to spruce up meals and snacks when I can.  Which means some are quite elaborate and others… well, are like this!

This dish that has essentially two ingredients:  a can of cinnamon rolls and a bag of chocolate chips.

spiderweb cinnamon rolls 2

To get this platter of spookiness, bake the cinnamon rolls according to package directions and place the finished rolls in a circle on a plate.

Melt some candy melts or chocolate chips.  Candy melts are smoother but I didn’t have any on hand.  If you melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, do it at half power 30 seconds at a time.

Put the melted chocolate into a piping bag or a baggie with the corner cut off, and squeeeze out the chocolate into a big and little circle for a spider’s body, along with eight legs, onto one of the rolls.

Then draw a web over the rest.  I did this with the straight lines first and then spiraled around to make it look like a web. And don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect – it’ll be gobbled up soon anyway!

Happy Early Halloween!

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Jack Skellington Rice Krispies Treats

I love me some Nightmare Before Christmas.

So Jack Skellington recipes are kind of a given.  This Halloween treat is made with a Rice Krispies base and decorated with candy melts.  The pattern in black and white is striking and it really pops on a platter.

It’s a fun project to make, with (or even without) kids.

To start, make a batch of Original Rice Krispies Treats (links to recipe from Kellogg’s site). I often throw in a splash of vanilla extract to the melted marshmallow mixture for a nice touch of extra flavor.

Once you have your pile of sticky cereal, spread it out on a large pan or cookie sheet that’s been prepped with non-stick spray.  Flatten it with your fingers (spraying them with non-stick as well) until it’s as smooth as you can get it.

Then cut out circles with round cookie cutters like these or these, or whatever else you have lying around.

Dip the circles in a shallow bowl of melted white candy melts, and shake them a bit to make sure the candy isn’t too thick before you set it back down to set.  I recommend doing all this on top of waxed or parchment paper.

Instead of the white candy melts, you could also use an icing like this one that I made for my Chocolate Almond Mummy Cookies.

Next, melt some black (or dark chocolate) candy melts in a piping bag (or a baggie with the corner snipped) and draw on those smiling faces.

It’s great because the faces are easy to make.  A couple of large eyes, small nose dots, and a string with lines for teeth and voila!

jack skellington rice krispie treats 3

This was the display I brought into work.  I loved the way the Jack Skellington faces stood out.  Actually all of the treats pop – even in the recycled take out containers!

Yummy AND cute!

The spiderwebs on the right are tiny Peppermint Patties.  You can see the larger version of them that I did on this post.  Another super simple recipe that makes a big visual impact – my fave.

And for the pumpkins in the middle, I tried out something new for my kids.  Specifically the youngest who is obsessed with Nutella.

I took some silicone pumpkin molds (not really sure which store I picked them up at) and coated the inside of the mold with some melted orange candy melts.  Once that set, I put a tiny scoop of Nutella into the center of the mold, then drizzed more of the orange candy melts over to cover the Nutella.

The pumpkins took a little more time and effort to get right, but were definitely worth a try.  Plus, they’re filling so a few go far in a party setting.

jack skellington rice krispie treats 2

Sooo much sweetness in this post!

I love it though.

Of course, this is also why I make so many savory Halloween dishes – to balance out the sugar!

I’m not sure what Halloween is going to look like this year, when it comes to trick-or-treating or parties, but I sure know one thing:  we’ll have some eerily festive food.  ;)

Follow me on Pinterest for more recipes!

Happy Early Halloween!

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Cheesy Ghosts and Pumpkins … aaand I’m Back!

Halloween Cheesy Ghosts and Pumpkins open faced sandwiches

So I took a look at when I last published a post on this blog and … *gasp* it’s been HOW long?

Well, my attempt at balancing work and kids and going back to school for my masters and planning a wedding all at the same time did not work out as planned.  And things got even more complicated this past spring when we all went into lock down and I was both working from home and home schooling my girls.

I still access this blog all the time, especially for recipes.  And heaven knows I’ve never stopped taking pictures of what my girls and I get up to.

But with the craziness that’s surrounding us all right now, I’ve decided to start writing again.  There aren’t suddenly more hours in the day, but I miss doing this.  Plus, it calms my anxiety (extra important in these stressful times!) and, hey, I love sharing food with you guys.

Halloween is practically around the corner – it IS August after all.  So I’m going to start by sharing Halloween recipes and ideas.

https://static.catsoncatnip.co/images/rwXkWuJxaqSj_700.jpg

This recipe here is for an age-old favorite of mine:  open faced cheese sandwiches.

These are so much fun.  And in the fall especially, my girls wind up getting some variation of these for lunch quite a bit.

Cheese and bread make a great base for a lunch since they go with so many different sides.  I can throw these on a plate with pretty much whatever fruit is on hand and it works.

Halloween Cheesy Ghosts and Pumpkins open faced sandwiches

 

For the pumpkins and ghosts pictured above, I used yellow American cheese and white Provolone.  You could also substitute another white cheese like Swiss, Mozzarella, white Cheddar or Monterey Jack, depending on your family’s favorites.

I placed the cheese slices on the bread and microwaved it for about 8 or 10 seconds, just until the cheese started to melt.  This makes sure it doesn’t fall apart in their lunchboxes.  You could also try warming it in a toaster oven instead – just keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

I personally like mine with crispy half-burnt cheese, but well, these aren’t for me…

Once the cheese is melted to the bread, simply use cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.  I can’t remember the brand of cutters I have, but they are similar to these and these.

I was able to get two pumpkins out of one slice with the size cookie cutters I have.  And, really, I often just save the scraps to eat as part of my own lunches.  Or, you know, midnight snack.  If they make it till midnight.

You could also use them as cheesy croutons in tomato soup.  If yours last longer than mine…

Here is a similar way I like to change it up:  Jack O Lantern Cheesy Bread

Follow my Halloween Pinterest Board for more ideas!

Happy Early Halloween :)

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Christmas Cinnamon Roll Reindeer Breakfast {Or, The Illusion of Being Busy}

Reindeer Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Well, it’s that time of year again . . . when it’s actually NEXT year (January) and I still have yet to post any of my Christmas projects or recipes. Never mind Halloween or Thanksgiving . . .

And when I took a close, sobering look at my blog, I see that I haven’t updated it in over six months.

Six MONTHS, people.  And not just that, but I haven’t been updating my Facebook page either, let alone Twitter or Pinterest.

I seem to be a tad behind.

So here I am:  feeling the need to make arguments for how busy I am.  And of course I’m busy – but aren’t we all?  I could make a very long list mentioning my full-time job and my two young kids, and how I moved recently and adopted a new kitten and how my schedule and stress levels were completely thrown off when Hurricane Irma rolled through . . .

But those are all just excuses.  We find time for the things that are important to us.  And this blog is important to me.  Sharing crafts and books and recipes that connect me to my children is important to me.

So here I am.  I also realized that this past holiday season I remade a lot of old recipes (already posted here) with my kids and don’t have a lot of new things to post, but there ARE still things to share.  And I’m going to make the time for it.

Starting with these Cinnamon Roll Reindeer, because, I mean, aren’t these just the most adorable cinnamon rolls EVER?

Reindeer Christmas Cinnamon Rolls 2

This past holiday season I spent a lot of time striving for recipes and crafts that embraced simplicity.

These yummy treats are a representation of that.  In the picture below you can see the 3 things I used to make them:  Grands cinnamon rolls, miniature candy canes, and M&Ms.

I made sure to unwrap the candy canes ahead of time, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the plastic wrappers before my coffee kicked in, but other than that task, these were thrown together in no time.

I used the Grands because they have little pockets, so to speak, to slip the candy canes into.  They’re made in a roll shape instead of the little cake-like cinnamon rolls that are one solid piece.  This way the candy canes just slid right in and were supported with no problem.

After baking the rolls according to the package directions, apply the icing.  Before the icing hardens, add two M&Ms for the eyes and a red M&M for a Rudolph-like nose.  Put two candy canes on each side of the “head” to represent the antlers.

You’ll need 4 candy canes per roll.  So if you have a package of 5 rolls like I did, then you’ll need 20 miniature candy canes.

Reindeer Christmas Cinnamon Rolls 3

I served these with some sausage and fruit.  They were a lot of fun and certainly enjoyed by the kids.  I plan to make these a regular tradition.

Happy Baking ;)

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Custom Pancake Bar & Reading List

Custom Pancake Bar 1

Sometimes I forget that my kids don’t always know where things come from (“Is the corn in cans different from corn-on-the-cob?”) or where things go (“What happens to the water after we flush it?”).

So I like to show them the extra steps for things when I can.  Of course, I don’t have wheat growing in my backyard so we won’t be grinding that into flour to make pancakes completely from scratch any time soon.  But what I CAN do is grab some colorful books to demonstrate the process.

I wanted to make a “Custom Pancake Bar” with my girls to show them how versatile pancakes could be.  But even without the grinding of flour, I still wanted to do more than just stir up a box mix.  Pancakes are easy anyway.

We’ve drawn with pancake batter and celebration pancakes are always fun, but I realized that I had yet to post an actual pancake recipe on this blog.  I’m calling this recipe the “Overnight or Now Pancakes” because I like to make the batter the night before, but it could also be used right away.

I am not, by any means, a morning person.  So I like to get things ready the night before:  breakfast, school lunches, my coffee maker … whatever CAN be done WILL be done.

Like this batter.  All made up and left to sit in the fridge until needed.  I also set up the griddle and toppings and even our plates the night before.

Because having kids means I’m often required to do things before I’m caffeinated.

Which can be … interesting.

Custom Pancake Bar 6

We had a lot of fun with this, though, because we personalized all of the pancakes.  Some had just mini chocolate chips or raisins, others sprinkles, and some a combination of everything.  A few had walnuts and cinnamon sugar, which is quite possibly my new favorite.

My daughter even made a face for one with walnut eyes, a chocolate chip mouth, and sprinkle hair.

There are other toppings you could incorporate, like blueberries or pieces of apples or bananas.  Coconut is also good (kinda like I used on my Tropical French Toast).  Just remember to use extra butter when flipping to make sure it doesn’t stick.

Before I share the recipe, I want to talk a little about the books we read.  I picked them all up at the library, but I’ve included (affiliate) links to Amazon in case you’d rather have your own copies.

Pancake Picture Books

Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle

This one is great because it shows the ENTIRE process for making pancakes from scratch – including harvesting wheat and churning butter.  The colorful illustrations demonstrate that there is an awful lot that goes into making our meals, but the story is told in a way that is playful.

There is also a board book version of Pancakes, Pancakes that is abridged.

Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola 

This wordless picture book is a delightful story about a woman who wakes up and decides to make pancakes.  But she’s out of eggs and milk and needs to get some more from her chickens and cow.  She even gets maple syrup from a nearby farmer.  But when she gets back with the syrup, her pets have turned her kitchen upside down and she can no longer make her pancakes … but luckily her neighbors had the same idea!

The pictures are pretty straightforward but drawn in a charming way.  And because the wordless pictures are easy for kids to “read,” it works well for either story time or reading-to-self for even the youngest of readers.

Mama Panya’s Pancakes

This story is a little different.  It also includes some steps in making pancakes, like buying flour and spices, but it focuses more on the people doing the cooking.  It tells us about a boy named Adika who is headed to the market with his mother, who also happens to invite everyone he sees back to their place to eat their pancakes with them.  It’s a wonderful tale of joy and generosity with a positive message about sharing.

There is a recipe, but my kids were more interested in the background information.  They were eager to hear all about village life in Kenya, and as soon as I started to read off the glossary of Kiswahili words, my 7-year-old jumped up to grab a paper and pencil so she could take notes.  I loved the way this book helped me to show my kids that things as basic as shopping with mom or sharing exciting news with friends (or making pancakes) are universal concepts practiced all over the world.

The Runaway Pancake 

This is a fun story which is based off of a fable from Norway and Germany about a pancake who really doesn’t want to be eaten.  He rolls through the forest trying to escape everyone who is trying to eat him, but makes the wrong decision to trust a seemingly kind but very hungry pig.  It briefly mentions how pancakes are made, but the real draw here is the silly story and cute illustrations.  It’s also one a beginning reader can read on their own.

And now … back to the recipe!

I’ve made these to have a noticeable taste of vanilla, and strongly suggest that you invest in some Madagascar pure vanilla extract because it has simply done AMAZING things with everything I use it in, from cookies to cheesecake to, well … pancakes!

But the vanilla in the recipe could easily be halved if (for some strange reason) you’re not a big vanilla fan.  And you could stir in your add-ons ahead of time (like chocolate chips or walnuts or sprinkles) instead of doing it the pancake-by-pancake way.

The individual way was an awful lot of fun for my kids, but just make sure to keep safety in mind!  Remember that flipping pancakes can cause splatter — and nobody wants to be pelted with splashes of hot butter!

When it comes to making the batter, we did it the night before and stuck it in the fridge.  It’s easy for kids to put together, which makes it nice for them because they are so involved in the whole process.

One of the things I wanted to mention, was that we decided to add some extra milk to the batter the next morning.

I don’t know why I did that.  I blame it on the caffeine deficiency.

Anyway, my point is that the pancakes still tasted great, but were much thinner than I had intended them to be.  It’s not necessary to add the extra milk like I did.  If you follow the recipe and don’t add any extra milk, your pancakes will be thicker than the ones photographed here.  Just stir the batter when you pull it out of the fridge in the morning and start frying!

Custom Pancake Bar 7

I used an ice cream scoop to measure out the batter.  My oldest daughter measured out one or two, but I mostly did that part.

And (again) make sure there are plenty of reminders of how hot the griddle gets and how much we realllly don’t want to touch it.

Cooking is fun, but safety is important too.

Custom Pancake Bar 8

Some of the add-ons made things a little sticky, so make sure to add more butter, or non-stick spray, when flipping the pancakes.

You can see where we made some with only one topping, like mini chocolate chips, and others which were combinations of toppings, like the one with chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon sugar.

Custom Pancake Bar 9

Don’t those look delicious??

You can see where the cake sprinkles seeped color into the rest of the pancake, but the flower sprinkles held their shape and color nicely.  Both tasted nice, and the thicker sprinkles gave a little sugary crunch to the pancake.

I put them on the platter with the topping side up and spread them out so you could see which was which.

Leftovers refrigerate and freeze nicely.

Let’s get cooking…

Overnight or Now Vanilla Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons (half stick) butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Optional:  Toppings like mini chocolate chips, nuts, sprinkles, chopped fruit, etc.

Combine the milk and vinegar and allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes to “sour” into buttermilk.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk eggs, melted butter, and vanilla into the milk.  Then whisk the milk mixture into the flour until the large lumps are gone.  Make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated, but don’t over mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or use right away.

Before cooking, stir in any extras you’d like.  For example, you can mix in about 1/2 cup of miniature chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberry pieces, or something similar.  Or you can do the Custom Pancake Bar (see below).  For the Custom Pancake Bar, do not mix anything extra into the batter.

To make pancakes, preheat a large skillet or griddle to medium heat.  Coat surface with butter or nonstick cooking spray, and spoon about 1/4 cup of batter onto cooking surface for each pancake.  Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook 2 minutes or until browned on the other side.

Serve with syrup.  Leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen.  Makes 15 to 20 pancakes.

For Custom Pancake Bar:  Do not mix extras into batter.  Leave batter plain.  After scooping batter onto griddle, sprinkle your toppings over the pancake.  When it bubbles, flip the pancake and cook for about 2 minutes or until lightly browned on the other side.

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Click here for the free printable PDF copy of the recipe:

Overnight Or Now Pancake Recipe

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Happy Cooking!

Roaming Rosie Signature

Strawberry Butter

Strawberry Butter 1

I made some Strawberry Butter with my kids for a fun sweet treat, so I wanted to share it with you.

It was super simple to make (just 3 ingredients), and it made for a fun snack or breakfast dish.

It’s the type of dish you could make when you wake up in the morning for a fresh homemade breakfast with very little effort.

Strawberry Butter 2

The first time we made it, my oldest daughter said it was actually too sweet, so we adjusted it for less sugar the next time, which is what you’ll find in the printable recipe below.

It was also a nice way to use up some extra strawberries, since my girls prefer to eat strawberries only when they’re fresh and crisp.  Once they start to get soft, I have to incorporate them into a recipe.  They won’t eat “mushy” berries.

But mushy or crisp strawberries both work for this.

You could use the butter to top any kind of bagel or English muffin or pancakes, but we like it in the King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, which is what you see in my photos.

Make sure your butter is completely room temperature when you start, to make it a quick and simple process.  If you’re going to make it in the morning, leave the butter out overnight.

You can refrigerate this Strawberry Butter if you don’t use it all right away, but allow it to come to room temperature before serving.  Or at least don’t use it right out of the fridge, because it will be too stiff.

Strawberry Butter

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup diced strawberries, fresh or frozen

In a small bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.  Stir in the strawberries and mix well by hand.

Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator.  Bring to room temperature before serving for best results.  Best if used within three days.

Note:  You can use salted or unsalted butter for this.  The salted butter will balance out the sweetness.  And you can use fresh or frozen strawberries, but keep in mind the frozen strawberries may add more juice to the butter, and be sure to thaw them fully first.

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And click below for the printable PDF version:

Strawberry Butter

Happy Eating!

Roaming Rosie Signature