St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes

St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes are a fun way to celebrate the holiday at the most important meal of the day! Kids of all ages will love these fun pancakes, and mom and dad will appreciate that they don’t require fancy equipment!

We all know my love for holiday themed food runs deep. I blame my parents, who themed just about everything for every holiday, big or small. I think my favorite part about Ryan getting older is being able to add fun touches to everyday life, like these super fun St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes!

Shaped pancakes were a very memorable part of my childhood – I’ve mentioned before that every Christmas my parents made us snowman pancakes, and I distinctly remember heart and mickey heads thrown in there occasionally as well. It’s funny how the littlest things from childhood stick in our mind, isn’t it? The other day I was thinking about holidays and pancakes and traditions and decided that I wanted to take it a step further and try to make a fun shaped pancake for each holiday – a year of fun pancakes. So here is the first installment in this series: St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes!

Since this is the first post in the ‘series’, here are some tips and guidelines for making simple shaped pancakes. I’ll refer back to this post in later additions to this series.

First and foremost, please note that these aren’t perfect – this is partially because one of my main goals for this project is to require no fancy equipment. Yes, you can use cookie cutters and squeeze bottles full of batter to make fun shapes, but I don’t have the time, patience or money to spend on that kind of stuff, so I’m sticking with the basics: spoons for scooping and spreading, and maybe knives after they’re cooked. That’s it.

As for the batter, I recommend a thicker batter. We made these on Christmas and it’s a super thick batter, but Alex wasn’t crazy about the french toast like consistency. For this round, I used this Martha Stewart recipe and added a little more flour to thicken it. A slightly thicker batter allows for more control when shaping the ‘cakes.

If using only one color, add in food coloring (if using) with the wet ingredients. If using more than one color, make the batter, but under-mix it, leaving lots of lumps. Separate the batter as needed, add food coloring and finish stirring. Stirring pancake batter too much can make for a tough pancake which no one likes.

St. Patrick’s Day Pancakes

Phew, okay, let’s get to the fun stuff! For this round, I obviously used green food dye. I took out a cup of batter before adding in the green dye – 12 drops – and added 6 yellow drops to the plain batter. But first, I played with the plain green. (Side note: These also look pretty awesome – they don’t contain any dye or flour, using spinach and Greek yogurt instead. Pretty awesome but I didn’t have fresh spinach (and I was craving normal old pancakes..). If you try them, let me know!)

Three or four circles and a line to create a four leaf clover. I use a plain old spoon to scoop and shape the batter, but a measuring spoon would offer more exact ‘leaves’.

Next up: A pot of gold! Pour one large circle to  start, then add 2 lines on either side of the top to create the pot’s edge. Next add small scoops of batter in random places on top until covered. By doing this, they’ll set at slightly different times, creating more defined ‘coins’.

Last: A leprechaun hat. First add a yellow stripe, then green strip underneath a little wider than the yellow to create the brim of the hat. Lastly, a rectangle (shaped with your trusty spoon! For more precise edges you can use a fork, butter knife, of simply cut it into right angles after it’s cooked.) on top.

If you’re willing to do more colors, St. Patrick’s day pancakes hold many options: rainbows, a leprechaun head (if you’re ambitious – make the hat, add an orange ‘beard’ and color the middle with plain batter to create the face.) horseshoes or an Irish flag would all be lots of fun! Or just make a stack of green pancakes.

Either way, I guarantee your kids will love them!

How do you bring a little extra fun to your kids’ plates on special days? Are you a fan of shaped pancakes? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy these related posts!

Green Food Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

Sweet or Savory Heart Shaped Foods

Breastmilk Pancakes