fancy cakes

Well, hi.  Been a while.  I could give you a lot of excuses about how I'm under the weather, how I'm continually exhausted, how this always leads me to apathy and a lack of desire to do anything, but I'll spare you this time.  Suffice it to say that after some rest, I've decided to force myself back into the saddle with the hopes that coercion will lead to feelings of motivation.  (Crossing fingers?)  

I've got pancakes!!  That's what I say at lunch time if I want the kids to get super excited.  I'm not sure what it is about pancakes, but it gets them every time.  I want to make sure the kids actually eat lunch or dinner?  We have pancakes.  And oddly enough, we pretty much NEVER eat them for breakfast... 
I'm glad they eat them like crazy (and I mean it - little mini can put away 5 or 6) because I happen to LOVE pancakes.  mr just tolerates our obsession as he'd rather have french toast (ew).

So, I've got two fun ways to dress up your pancakes, if you're into that sort of thing. 

AND, even though I'm showing you my fancy cakes, I'm going to give you my foolproof recipe for basic pancakes too - you know the pancakes that never fail.  Woo hoo!  Three recipes for the price of one!

First up, the Hawaiian inspired Aloha Cakes.  They probably aren't very Hawaiian at all... oh well.

Aloha Cakes
2 C Bisquick
1 C coconut milk
2 T coconut oil
1 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
Mandarin oranges/juice
macadamia nuts
Optional: maple syrup

Mix the first seven ingredients really well.  Heat a pan or skillet over medium heat.  Pour a few spoonfuls out, wait until it starts to bubble, then flip with a spatula.  Cook until golden.   Serve with mandarin oranges and some macadamia nuts sprinkled on top, pour a little juice/syrup from the oranges on.  If you'd like, you can also serve it with a little butter and maple syrup.   

            
They were a hit!

But not as big a hit as these awesome Almond Joy cakes.  Please note that the nuts in the photograph are cashews, not Almonds.  We ran out of Almonds the day I decided to take pictures of these cakes, of course - why wouldn't we? - and I had to improvise.  Just note, it SHOULD be almonds.

Almond Joy Cakes

2 C Bisquick

1 C coconut milk

1 T sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla 

2 eggs

chocolate chips

shredded coconut

almonds

EITHER: Chocolate syrup OR maple syrup

Mix the first seven ingredients plus about 1/2 C of chocolate chips together well.  You can add more chocolate chips to taste.  Heat a pan or skillet over medium heat.  Pour a few spoonfuls of batter on.  Wait until it bubbles and flip it, then cook until golden.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle some chocolate chips, coconut and almonds on the top.  Serve with homemade chocolate syrup or maple syrup.

They were gone almost before I knew it.  (of you're doing chocolate syrup, click that link up there.  You won't be sorry.)

In case you don't care for fancy cakes, and want something more of the plain variety, here's my basic recipe - which is bisquick's recipe, but fancied up a smidge.

Basic Cakes
2 C Bisquick mix
1 C milk
1 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

Mix it all up.  Cook them on the skillet or pan like normal.  Serve with butter and maple syrup.  Yum!

Hope you like them as much as we do!

*Be sure to check the right sidebar for all the fun parties I link to!