Pancake designs made easy!

This is just a simple and quick tip we're sharing on the blog today.  Nothing fancy but sort of an AH-HA! moment.

Growing up our mom made pancakes pretty much every weekend.  She could do all sorts of shapes and designs, sort of like Gru on Despicable Me.  She is still so awesome at it and I... well I suck at it.  Even the good old mickey mouse face always comes out lopsided and not like mickey at all.
So to make better (because my art could use a little help) pancake designs here is what you'll need.

a griddle
pancake batter
a funnel
and a squeeze bottle ( found mine in the isle at Wal-Mart with the measuring cups)

 

make your batter, turn on your griddle, and pour batter into the bottle using a funnel.

 

 

Then squeeze away into any shape you want, Or whatever weird things your family start yelling out at you. And cook like your would regular pancakes.

Happy Tuesday!

Spritz Cookies

This is a new recipe that I tried out this year and I'm surprised at how easy and how good it is. I bought this fun little gadget at Target for $9.99 (except mine is white) and it came with the recipe on the box:) I'm assuming that Target will still have it in stores through the holiday. Sadly, I could not find it at Target.com.

Spritz Cookies

1 cup. butter, softened

2/3 cup. sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 1/4 cups. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. almond extract

sprinkles

Cream butter. Mix in sugar and egg. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Roll dough into a log and chill 30 minutes. Place dough into cookie press. Press cookies using desired shapes onto an ungreased (make sure it's ungreased, other wise cookie won't stick to pan!) cookie sheet. Sprinkle with decorations, if desired. Bake at 375* F for 8-10 minutes.

chocolate chips.

This isn't a recipe for them but more of a suggestion.. A very strong suggestion! These have got to be the best chocolate chips ever! They taste amazing in the pumpkin cookie recipe, they are so good in pancakes and waffles and sometimes i just pop a few in my mouth when a need something sweet. You can pick them up in your local grocery store in the baking goods isle.

Pizza Stone

If you don't have one of these, you deffinately need one. There are so many uses for this thing. It bakes pizza perfectly. I also use mine to make cookies, chicken, just about whatever you can bake on a cookie sheet you can bake on this thing. Plus it's ceramic so it heats more evenly. You will love it. You can order it here at Pampered Chef.

Hair.....

Hair, it's everywhere. I'm sure everyone will agree with me that finding a hair in your food could possibly be the most disgusting thing ever. So one handy little kitchen gadget that I keep around is a lint roller. Before I even start cooking I grab this handy little tool and run it over my front and back, and I also try to pull my hair up in a pony tail. That way everyone gets something yummy and I don't have to worry about them finding a nasty little surprise.