Pipe Dream #185: To Fake Taste? – Cake Batter Pancakes

These pancakes tasted average, so I messed with the photo edits to make them Pinterest-appropriate. I was trying to  make up for their lack of flavor by making them visually appealing. The idea of putting cake batter in pancakes is nice, but I just wasn’t into these.

Don’t get me wrong. I ate them, and I kind of liked them. They are pancakes, after all.

They were just super saccharine, but kind of bland at the same time. Try adding more vanilla, and maybe use a different glaze? Or just add more sprinkles for joy’s sake. Pretty makes up for taste sometimes?

Nah, I retract that.  Tastefulness always wins over pretty.

Tastelessly pancaking,

L

Cake Batter Pancakes

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Moist)

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

sprinkles

Stir together the dry ingredients minus the sprinkles in a bowl. Add 1 cup of milk, the eggs and the vanilla extract and stir until just combined. It’s ok if it is a tad lumpy. Add more milk if the batter seems too thick.

Preheat a skillet on medium-low heat. Fold in a bunch of sprinkles into the batter, then pour the batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto a lightly greased skillet. Cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve immediately with a vanilla glaze. Recipe follows below.
1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

assorted sprinkles

Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms, adding more milk if necessary to thin out the glaze. Mix more sprinkles into the glaze and drizzle on the pancakes.

Shortbread Tales: WICKLE BUNNY BUNS

You know you have to go make these right now. There is nothing cuter than baby bunnies. Nothing.

Except maybe Nutella-stuffed baby bunnies.

You can use up your extra sprinkles and create…

…horror bunnies.

What do you expect from a recipe I pulled from DeviantArt?

But don’t worry, they’re not really awful. Their sunken skeleton eyes belie their amicable hearts.

Want more shortbread tales (pun intended)? Check out this last year’s digital flip book.

Your fast friend,

L

Wickle Bunny Buns (Cookies)

Adapted from DeviantART

Makes about 24 little bunnies.
150 grams flour
a pinch of sea salt
60 grams cold, cubed  butter
33 grams melted butter
1 egg yolk, beaten
2 teaspoons cold water
1 teaspoon milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

heavy cream, for glazing

Cadbury Mini Eggs and Nutella, for stuffing

Pulse together the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Chuck in the cold butter and the melted (slightly cooled) butter into the flour and pulse until it looks like fine bread crumbs.
In a small bowl, beat together egg yolks, cold water, milk and vanilla extract. Add it into the butter-flour mixture. Pulse until the crumbs just come together. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Scoop balls of dough using a 1 tablespoon measurement. Quickly roll into balls and chill in the fridge for ten minutes.
Once chilled, flatten each dough ball with your hand and fill with a Mini Egg or frozen Nutella chip (see note below). Wrap the dough around the filling, rolling each ball into an egg shape.

To make the bunnies, snip two ears into the top of the dough ball. Use chopsticks or another utensil to shape the ears, and make eyes. If you want, you can poke sprinkles into the eye holes. Chill for another 10 minutes, then glaze the bunny ears with heavy cream. Bake at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes. The bunnies should be lightly golden. Let cool on a rack, and store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Note: To stuff the cookies with Nutella, stick a 1/4 cup of Nutella in a little bowl in the freezer while you make the cookie dough. When you are ready to stuff the cookies, remove the Nutella from the freezer and scoop 1/2 teaspoon measurements before it gets melty.

Pipe Dream # 184: To Use All The Blubber -Spicy Curry Squash Seeds

I know I post out of season things a lot. It’s a problem. And this post is a little off too, but just listen! I actually did eat this in March. I just felt like some squash, ok? It doesn’t have to be October for a girl to desire a squash. Probably A Vitamin-deficient.

Anyway, enough of my excuses. This trick is one of my favorite efficient-life tricks. You can use the whole squash, like Native Americans used to use every part of the buffalo or every part of a washed-up whale. You know, boiling down the blubber for leather tanner or something. No? I may have read too many books as a child.

Ok, step one. Remove the seeds from your squash. Set aside. Roast squash and eat  it with a glass of Sauv Blanc.

Step Two: Rinse the seeds and pick off all the stringy bits. Blot with a paper towel.

Step Three: Spread the seeds in an even layer on an aluminum-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and desired spices.  I used salt, pepper, cumin, curry and cayenne. You could go sweet though! Sugar and cinnamon would be nice.

Step Four: Using the “Toast” setting on a toaster oven or 450 degrees in  the oven, toast the seeds, stirring and checking them frequently to make sure they don’t burn. Toast until golden. It might take ten minutes. I never know because I keep a close eye. I’ve burnt them too many times.

Step Five: Let cool, then store in an airtight container. Snackalicious!

L