Happy National Pancake Day! Did you celebrate with pancakes this morning?
My family and I love pancakes. I try to make them as often as I can, but it is not always easy on busy week day morning. That is why I love the pancake mixes from Krusteaz. Krusteaz offers a variety of products as simple mixes where you only need to add a few simple ingredients (such as water). Krusteaz does most of the work for you. As someone who is horrible at baking, I appreciate Krusteaz mixes. My personal favorites are Gingerbread Cookies and Italian Herb Bread mixes. I have been a fan of the Krusteaz brand for many years.
Krusteaz has pre-made pancakes mixes that are so simple to use that you can make pancakes on a busy morning quickly and easily. Their pancake varieties include Buttermilk, Blueberry, Honey Wheat, Chocolate Chip and even Pumpkin Spice. Yumm!!!
I was challenged by Krusteaz and T-Fal (more on them later) to create a pancake recipe – or design some creative pancakes in honor of National Pancake Day.
I have seen on Pinterest and around the internet where people can turn pancakes into a variety of artful designs including people, places and popular television characters. I wish I was that creative.
I had the idea of creating a heart shaped pancake tinted red, made with strawberries and drizzles with Nutella on top. Our local pizza place makes a pizza dessert out of strawberries and Nutella which is out of this world. I thought it would be fun to create a pancake made from strawberries and Nutella. Since February is the month of “love” (Valentine’s Day) I thought making a heart shaped pancake would be fun.
Well… I always have great intentions… but I can’t always execute them the way I envisioned them.
I was sent two boxes of Krusteaz pancake mixes to help with my recipe. I received Buttermilk and Blueberry. I opted to use the Buttermilk for this recipe since I didn’t want the blueberries to take away from the strawberries.
For this recipe I purchased red food coloring gel to tint the pancake mix and strawberries that I washed and cut up into little chunks.
I prepared the pancake mix as directed on the package. I then removed some of the pancake mix and place it in a measuring cup where I tinted the mix red (although it turned out more pink than red). I then poured the tinted mix into a squeeze bottle.
When I see creative pancakes on the Internet they always use squeeze bottles, so I made sure to purchase one for this recipe. Sadly, the opening was a bit bigger than I thought and I had a hard time controlling the batter. As a result my heart looks a bit sloppy.
I also added the chopped up strawberries into the remaining pancake mix. Had I used the blueberry mix the blueberries and their blue/purple color would have interfered with the red color I was going for.
Initially I was going to do the entire pancake tinted red, but I thought that might be “overkill,” so I opted to make the shape of the heart in red (outline) and fill the middle with the regular, un-tinted batter. In theory it would have looked cool. My reality is that it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. But I should at least get an “A” for effort. LOL!
To top off the pancake I wanted to drizzle some Nutella across the top. You know, like the chocolate drizzle you see on top of fancy desserts.
I guess I needed to add something to the Nutella. I warmed it up in the microwave in hopes it would get a liquid consistency, making it easy to drizzle. That never happened. When I tried to drizzle it the Nutella just came out in clumps, so I had to resort to “Plan B” (I didn’t really had a Plan B, so I had to come up with something quickly). Instead of a drizzle I just covered the inside of the heart with Nutella.
Here is my final result.
So it didn’t turn out as pretty as I had hoped, but it was as delicious as I knew it could be. I consider the recipe a success, even if the end result wasn’t the same.
Best of all this was so easy to make. I simply measured out the pancake mix for the amount of pancakes I wanted, added water, mixed in some strawberries and topped it off with Nutella. With Krusteaz mixes you can whip up delicious pancakes like this too.
In case you didn’t notice, I made my pancake creation on a T-fal Initiatives Non-Stick Fry Pan. The T-fal Initiatives Non-Stick Fry Pan has a unique heat indicator (in the center of the pan) that shows you when the pan is ready to seal in flavor and prevents burning.
I have several T-fal pans. I have never had any issues with any of them, that is why they are my “go to” pans for cooking.
T-fal pans;
- Provides an optimal, high-performance cooking experience for the expert cook
- Features T-fal’s patented ThermospotTM technology
- Soft handles provide a secure grip with a luxe feel
- Non-stick inside and out for easy cooking and cleaning
I especially love the non-stick feature. I don’t want to have to add any butter or grease to the pan because it only adds more fat and calories to the dish I am creating. I also enjoy non-stop pans because they make cleaning quick and easy. Who wants to scrub pans? No me! Most especially on a busy weekday morning (or evening too for that matter).
If you are in the market for some new pans, Target is offering 15% off on select T-fal non-stick cookware at Target stores as as as online at Target.com from Feb 27th – March 3rd. You won’t want to miss out on this great discount.
For more information about T-fal visit T-FalUSA.com. You can also check out the brand on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
To learn more about Krustez you can visit them online at Krusteaz.com. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Krusteaz and T-Fal would love to see YOUR pancake creations. Share your photos on social media, tag the brands and be sure to use the hashtags #MyPancakeStyle and #TfalxPancakeDay. I would to see your creative creations too.
Kimberly
*I received free products in order to do my review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Betsy Barnes says
I really want pancakes for dinner tonight! I think my family will be thrilled!
Sarah L says
Your pancakes look lovely even if they weren’t exactly what you wanted.