Patriotic Pancakes

Why not spice up your 4th of July breakfast with these Patriotic Pancakes? They do take slightly longer than regular pancakes to make, but the results are worth it! 

Start with my basic Buttermilk Pancake recipe (I doubled it this time).

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 T butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients and mix until combined (may be slightly lumpy).  Heat your griddle over medium heat until water drops dance on top.  Use about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.  Cook until edges are dull and a few bubbles have popped on the surface of the pancake, then flip and cook 30 seconds on the other side.  Serve hot.
Makes about 12 pancakes.

For the Patriotic version, divide the batter into three bowls.  Using food coloring, dye one bowl red and one blue; leave the third bowl white.  There are a few different styles of pancakes that I made using the three colors:

Red, White, and Blue stripes:
Using a spoon (I used a regular spoon like you would use to eat cereal or ice cream with), make a red spot, a white spot, and a blue spot, all touching.  Bake like normal. This makes a pancake that is oval in shape and has a red stripe, a white stripe, and a blue stripe.  It's the easiest to make by far.

Red, White, or Blue Stars:
Spray non-stick spray (like Pam) on the inside edges of a star-shaped cookie cutter.  Place the cookie cutter on your hot griddle. Pour one spoonful of batter (pick a color) into the cutter.  Let it sit until set, then carefully slide your pancake-turner under the cutter, grab the cutter with your fingers or tongs (it will probably be hot), and flip it over.  If you've greased it well the pancake inside should slip down to the griddle.  Cook until set, then remove to a plate and take off the cutter.  You can gently push the pancake out if it sticks a little.  Re-grease the cutter and do it again.  When it's done baking you can just eat with syrup or you can decorate with berries, like so.

Flag Pancake:
To make the flag pancake, start with the blue blob for the starry field.  Then make a red stripe at the top to the right of the blue (I found that the longer and thinner you make it, the better it looks when cooked).  Make a white stripe under the red, then a red and then another white if you have room.  Be very careful when flipping this--make sure it's pretty set so it doesn't run everywhere and mix your colors.  You can decorate it with berries and powdered sugar (or whipped cream) or just eat it with syrup.

Happy American kids love patriotic pancakes!