Day 4 of Holiday Baking with Kids

I love waking up on the weekends to a warm hot breakfast.  The weekends are a time when we can all sit down and eat breakfast or dinner together as a family.  With Jon’s hectic work schedule we rarely have this opportunity during the week.  One of the easiest and most enjoyable breakfast recipes loved by most is pancakes.  For many years we bought boxed pancake mix until we figured out just how simple it is to make homemade nutritious pancakes without the box.

Today Clara was in the house…or should I say kitchen, whipping up something awesome!  Yes, even two year olds love to help bake, especially if it’s something sweet.  This morning Clara and I baked up a batch of our favorite pancakes.  They are filled with colorful dried cranberries and walnuts that add a nice crunch making them a perfect recipe for Christmas morning.  And the best ingredient…chocolate chips!  Who doesn’t love a pancake packed with warm sweet chocolate chips?  Usually a glass of orange juice is perfectly suited  with breakfast but with these pancakes you’ll want to be sure you have a large glass of milk on hand as these are so rich and decadent.  This recipe is easy, fast, and delicious.  Ingredients can be substituted or taken out all together to make it more kid friendly.  It’s sure to be a family favorite.

We took this sweet and easy recipe and turned it into a gift for the teachers.  We’ve never made gifts in a jar and I’m so glad we finally decided to tackle this project.  The gifts were fast and easy to make and the kids had so much fun doing it.  They were beyond excited to give the pancakes in a jar to their teachers.  We attached a Starbucks gift card to the jar because we know how teachers love a little coffee but the kids got more joy out of the simple art of making something homemade to give.

This recipe is from A Merry Christmas Cookbook by Disney.  If you love Disney or your kids love Disney this is the perfect beginner cookbook filled with many other fun recipes made especially for children.

 

Rolly’s Spotted Cranberry Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup mini or regular chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, vanilla extract, butter, and egg. Whisk in the flour mixture until just wet, and carefully stir in the walnuts, cranberries, and chocolate chips.
3. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and grease with cooking spray. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter onto the skillet for each pancake, using the back of the spoon to spread the batter into a circular shape.
4. Cook each pancake until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Serve with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

Assembling a Gift Jar:

Layer the following ingredients from above in a pint-sized (16-ounce) mason jar in this order: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, chocolate chips, cranberries, walnuts.

Have you ever made or received a gift in a jar?  What’s your favorite?