How to Put Your Kids' Names in Their Pancakes

I was cooking pancakes one morning and was struck with the idea to put their names in them.  I decided to try it and it was a bit easier than I thought, and the kids loved them.  Ok, well, they liked them (I probably thought they were cooler than they did : P ) but I thought it was a cool way to just put in that extra bit of effort to do something unique for them.  Anyway, here is how to do it.

Step 1: Write the Letters

I used regular pancake batter, but thickening it up a tiny bit would probably be helpful- not too much because you won't be able to get good detail if it is too thick, but if it is particularly thin you won't be able to get finer lines- they will just run everywhere. The first thing that I did wrong was to make the lettering face right side up, when in fact it needs to be mirrored so that when you flip the pancakes over and it gets reversed the names or initial or whatever you do with them are readable to the eater. So, pour the name onto your heated griddle mirrored. Another thing that I did slightly differently as I went on was to let the letters cook a little bit first, a good 30 seconds or a minute before going to the next step. 

Step 2: Finishing Up

 After the letters have cooked a minute, go ahead and pour batter over and around them so that all the letters of the name are encased. You could, of course, just cook the letters by themselves, but I figured the name in a pancake was kind of cool. Then you flip the pancake as normal, but because you will probably end up with an awkward size or shape, it will be more difficult than a regular round pancake. One I ended up using two spatulas simultaneously to flip, which was a challenge but (to me) was well worth it for the coolness factor. These were made for Caleb, AJ, Alex and Ben.

Have fun and make your kids feel loved in a yummy way to start the day!