Rainbow Pancakes

Last month, we had Alex's niece Charlotte over for the night.  I was excited to have a 3-year-old in the house to cook fun things for, so I got up early (really early... kids don't sleep late, do they?) and took charge.  I decided that rainbow pancakes would be awesome.  The idea came to me somehow, and I did a quick search to find this post from I am Baker.  It's a good one to check out because it's full of tips for making good rainbow pancakes, including:

• Don't use butter, because it browns the pancakes, and you want the pancakes to be colored like a rainbow.  If one side gets overly browned, it's okay; just serve that one brown-side-down!
• Have a lot of bowls ready, because each color is going to need its own.  I got lazy and only made four colors, but even still there were a lot of dishes!

Honestly there was more to making rainbow pancakes than I thought, so I was glad I read the post all the way through!  It was a lot of fun to try these out - and then fun for Rachael and I to eat them.  These are obviously not just for kids!  :)  I even got wild and mixed colors for a tie dye pancake at one point, but it got a little too burned so you don't get a picture of that one.

Charlotte claimed some colors tasted better than others, but I promise they're all the same :)  This is just a basic pancake recipe, but the batter is thin to help them cook quickly and thus avoid getting brown.  They still puff up nicely with the hefty dose of baking powder.

No more cute breakfasts after today... back to work in the morning.  I know I shouldn't complain because I had the summer off, and many teachers already went back last week, but still.  Complain I will!

Recipe:

rainbow pancakes

from I am Baker

serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

liquid food coloring

Instructions:

1) In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2) Pour in milk, egg and oil, and mix until smooth.

3) Separate the batter into different bowls depending on how many colors you want to make.  Add food coloring (no more than a few drops is enough!).  

4) Pour the battle onto the heated griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.  Cook until bubbles appear, then flip and cook on the other side until done.