Pancakes, Pajamas, and The Empire Strikes Back

In the wee hours of the morning (5:30am) Boy and Hubby left for an early morning baseball practice.  Shocking! The Boy and baseball? A while after the two early birds left, I was joined in bed....get yours heads out of the gutter!! My adorable 5 year old nephew crawled in to cuddle.  We were joined shortly after by the two cats who always seem to want some sort of attention. 

We decided it was time to get up when we both had to pee. I know, that was too much information. With the big boys gone, the Lego came back out, we watched "The Fox and the Hound".  Of course while the movie was playing I was able to sneak into the Little Kitchen to mix up some pancakes.  Nephew wanted to help with the flipping but I was worried about the hot griddle and such...he did have fun watching though.  Using my intergalactic pancake moulds can be tricky though.

Top to bottom: Tie fighter, Millennium Falcon, and an X-wing

The Millennium Falcon gets a dab of butter and a dose of maple!

Not only did I get to use my moulds this morning, I also got to give my pancake pen a try as well as my new griddle! (Nothing but fun times in the Little Kitchen!)

Put together your favourite pancake recipe. I used this one today. 

Pre heat the griddle and oil up the moulds and place them on the griddle to heat up.

If you have a pancake pen, load it up with batter. If not use about 1/4 cup of batter per mould and a knife to help spread the batter into all the nooks and crannies.

Cook the pancakes until all bubbly and dry on the edges.  You will have to cook the pancakes longer on the first the side than you normally would. 

If the pancakes happen to stick to the edges of the mould, use a knife to scrape and push the pancake out.

Flip and finish cooking.

Transfer to a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep until all the batter is cooked and made into pancakey goodness.

Half the galaxy could have come over for breakfast!

Serve with maple syrup and butter!!

What did we do while eating our pancakes this morning?  We stayed in our pajamas and watched the Empire Strikes Back of course!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

What Ever Shall I Do??

I had quite the dilemma in the Little Kitchen tonight.  You really wouldn't believe it, it was just that shocking!!! While icing some lovely cupcakes and baking cookies for Friday, I found myself with extra cookies AND extra icing!!! After about 2 seconds of hard thinking (I didn't want to hurt myself you know) I decided to put the two together.....Ricotta cookies and Swiss meringue butter cream, together at last!  I won't need to eat for the rest of the week....

Ricotta cookie recipe here

Swiss Meringue Butter cream recipe here

Delectable things I tell you!  Here's to a terrific weekend to everyone.....despite the whole 'spring ahead' thing.  I think I really do need that hour....

You know, the Boy has a 6am practice Sunday morning....up at 5 am.....with the whole 'spring ahead' thing happening....that is just mean, even if it is all for the love of baseball!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

I Learned Something New Today!

Today while giving my stove a thorough wipe down after cooking, I decided it was time to pull all of the knobs off to help get everthing spic and span.  While I have done this before, I have never really looked at the back of the oven temperature knob before.  I discovered that should the temperature in my oven ever go wonky, I can adjust it myself using the screws on the back of the dial!!  Wow!  I have the power to adjust the overall temp if it ever runs too hot or too cold!  Another reason why one of those oven thermometers you can put inside the oven is useful!

Pretty darn cool if you ask me!

I Can Taste a Difference, Can You Taste a Difference? There is a Difference

Drippy, runny, goey sweetness

 There is an old saying I learned from Saturday morning cartoons, "Now you know. And knowing is half the battle".  I never realized just how true that is.  When it comes to baking there will always be things I need to know or look up.  Always wanting to improve or try something new requires new knowledge and the ability to find the answers.  Another Saturday morning slogan I remember is the "More you know" slogan.  Again, this is so true.  I feel that the more I learn and know about the things I enjoy to do, such as baking, the more I will enjoy to do them.  I like to learn new things all the time.  Tonight was a learning night and I thought I should share my new knowledge because "Knowing is half the battle"!

Tonight while shopping and allowing Superstore to suck all the life out of my evening (save for a batch of ginger cookies) dear Hubby asked a question to which I did not know the answer.  I had to look it up when I got home!!  Sure, I could have posted a question of Chef Dennis in his Ask Chef Dennis section but then I would still be waiting until the answer was posted.  I was really curious and wanted to look this up tonight!
You see, I needed more molasses to finish some baking for the holiday season. As we lollygagged down the baking aisle looking for molasses, (I swear they move it everytime I need to buy it!) dear Hubby finally popped the question:

"What's the difference between cooking molasses, fancy molasses, and blackstrap molasses?  What kind do you need?"

All shopping stopped dead in its tracks!  Umm... Well.....  I, oh,  "Don't ask me questions to which I do not know the answer" came my reply.

Tonight then became a quasi trial night.  I made the ginger cookies with cooking molasses instead of fancy molasses tonight.  There was definitely a different taste to the cookies.  They weren't quite as sweet as the ones I made originally and they were a bit darker in colour as well.  Also there was a slightly bitter molasses after taste that wasn't by any means a bad taste but it would go well with a glass of milk, a cup of tea or coffee, or great with vanilla ice cream.

This week's cookie with cooking molasses:

Darker, slightly bitter, but still tasty

Last week's cookies with fancy molasses:

Lighter, more sweet, and still tasty

Here is some of the info I found thanks to the Crosby Molasses Company:

Fancy Molasses is what is left over after sugar cane has been pressed.  Fancy molasses offers more sweetness and a lighter colour to your baked goods than Blackstrap or Cooking molasses does.

Blackstrap Molasses is what is pressed from the sugar cane after all of the good stuff is gone.  It is darker and has a less sweet taste to it.

Cooking Molasses appears to be a mixture of Fancy and Blackstrap molasses.  It will give your baked goods a darker, slightly bitter taste.  Just as it did with my ginger cookies tonight. (according to what's cooking america)


Wow!  I am glad I looked that up!