Birthday Pancakes

My youngest daughter turned one about a week and a half ago.  Her birthday was on a Friday.  We were throwing a party for her on Saturday, but I still wanted to do something special for her on her actual birthday. A couple of months ago, I saw these "Tie-Dye" Pancakes on A Little Bit Crunchy, and as soon as I saw the first picture, I thought "Those would make perfect birthday pancakes!"  So Eva's first birthday was the beginning of a new tradition in our house.  (I made special pink pancakes for Lena on her last birthday, so the thought was already there.)  Here is the recipe for the pancakes I will be making every February 28th and June 3rd for the next 17 years or so!

Birthday Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 cup flour

¾ cup milk (soy is fine)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp sprinkles, plus more for sprinkling

1½ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

2 tbsp water, or more if necessary

½ tbsp sprinkles

Directions:

Beat eggs with whisk until fluffy.  Add in flour, milk, oil, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir to combine.  Add sprinkles but don’t stir too much because the colors will run a little bit. 

Heat griddle or pan.  Pour about 3 tbsp of batter in pan and cook until pancake is puffed and dry around the edges.  Turn and cook other side until golden brown.

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and water.  Add more water if necessary to reach desired consistency.  You want it to be a little on the thick side so that it doesn’t just invisibly soak into the pancakes.

Stack a few pancakes on a plate and pour glaze over the top.  Sprinkle sprinkles on top and around the plate.

Makes 6 servings.

I didn't use the pancake recipe from A Little Bit Crunchy, because it called for buttermilk and Eva is allergic to dairy.  I found a recipe that called for regular milk and I used vanilla soy instead.  This pancake recipe is from Betty Crocker, I believe.  I've never had much luck cooking pancakes, but these turned out pretty well.  They are nice and cakey, which I have never been able to achieve before.

 We put a candle in the pancakes and sang "Happy Birthday" to Eva.  You can see that she loved it!  Daddy helped her blow out the candle.

She still only has four little teeth, which aren't even in all the way yet, so I cut up the pancakes in little pieces for her.  She absolutely loved them.  

We had extras leftover, so I put pieces of wax paper in between them and put them in a freezer bag and froze them.  I pulled out two this morning for breakfast.  They freeze and reheat really well.

Happy Birthday, Eva!