How to make simple dinosaur pancakes (and how not to)
Dinosaur pancakes are perfect for a fun prehistoric breakfast, after a dinosaur sleepover and as a light snack for hungry little Tyrannosaurs. The are also a wonderful treat for little dinosaur fans on Pancake Day. But how do you make them?
This began as a search for a simple way to make dinosaur pancakes. I had seen so many tutorials on making picture pancakes that I decided to try making some dinosaur pancakes with Miss M for Pancake Day. Then things went horribly wrong.
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Rex’s Recipe Rundown
- Title: Dinosaur Pancakes
- Food: Simple pancakes with a dinosaur sharpe or dinosaur footprint in the middle
- Dinosaur: Any you wish
- Best for: Pancake Day, Sunday breakfast, breakfast for dinner or after a dinosaur sleepover
- Ease: 1 to 5 out of 5 – Depends on the method – see below
What is Pancake Day?
Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, 47 days before Easter Sunday. This year it falls on 16 February.
It is a traditional day of feasting before the start of Lent. Traditionally, you would not eat eggs or fat during Lent, so Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday is the day to use these up. One of the easiest ways to use these up is to make pancakes, which is why Shrove Tuesday has become known as Pancake Day.
Dinosaur Pancakes: Attempt No. 1
We made our pancake batter, but for some reason, it was a little lumpy. I think the buttermilk might have gotten too cold. Normally, lumps are not a problem – and our LDA declared that the batter was quite delicious – so we continued.
The recommended method on Youtube involves filling a squeeze bottle with the batter and using that to draw the pictures in the frypan. According to the examples, you wait until bubbles appear in the batter, then add the rest of the batter and cook as normal.
In theory, this should work. However, when we tried it, our slightly lumpy batter caused the mouth of the bottle to become clogged quickly and then it all exploded. Total failure. Pancake batter everywhere.
Fortunately, our LDA was hungry and gobbled up the pancake regardless – much like the dinosaurs in this counting book. It would have been nicer if she had embodied the much more polite dinosaurs in “How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?”.
However, it does mean that we had to estimate the number of pancakes that the recipe would make…
Dinosaur Pancakes: Attempt No. 2
Abandoning the squeeze bottle and promising to try it again another day, we (well, I because our LDA was eating the other pancake) tried the cookie-cutter method.
For this method, we sprayed a cookie cutter with non-stick cooking spray, placed it in the frypan and added a little batter. Perhaps a little too much batter. According to the tutorials I found, when the bubbles started appearing, you should be able to easily remove the cookie cutter from the pan, to add the rest of the batter to make a nice sized pancake.
My cookie cutter did not release. I waited for the bubbles to appear and pop and then had to use a knife to get the dinosaur shape out of the cookie cutter. After quite a struggle, I finally got it out and added the batter to make a nice sized pancake. Unfortunately, by the time the rest of the pancake was done, the dinosaur was burnt.
Dinosaur pancakes: Attempt No. 3
This time, we submerged the cookie cutter in a bowl of cooking oil to ensure that we hadn’t missed any bit. Hopefully, this would stop the pancake from sticking. We also turned down the heat to prevent burning and added a little less batter to the cookie cutter so that it would not need as long to cook.
This time we tried a dinosaur footprint cookie cutter, in honour of our visit to the Dinosaur Park in Münchehagen.
While the result was perhaps the best pancake of all, the partly-cooked dinosaur pancake was still stuck to the cookie cutter. While it didn’t burn, I burnt my finger trying to get the dinosaur footprint out of the cookie cutter.
Dinosaur pancakes: Attempt No. 4
For this one we totally abandoned all cookie cutters and ignored all of the advice found on youtube.
Instead, we just used a spoon to drizzle a little batter into the pan in the shape of a dinosaur footprint. After waiting about 30 seconds, we added the rest of the batter to the pancake and cooked as per normal.
The result is a cute footprint that actually looks a lot like a footprint in this post.
It was by far the simplest pancakes, made the least mess, but probably would not work for a more complicated motif.
What did we learn from these attempts?
Basically, you have a few options if you want to make dinosaur pancakes for your little dinosaur fan.
If you are able to distract your little dinosaur fan with another project – perhaps one of these craft projects – use a blender to make sure that you have absolutely no lumps in your batter. You can then try your hand at using the squeeze bottle, without the risk of a swimming pool in your frypan.
If your little dinosaur fan insists on assisting you with the dinosaur pancakes, use a spoon and just freehand your dinosaur design (dinosaur footprints work well).
Alternatively, just make pancakes using whatever recipe you like. Cut those pancakes into dinosaurs and use fruit and Nutella to add stripes or teeth or make trees or other decorations. Banana palm tree with apple leaves and raspberries for coconuts? Strawberry backplates for a Stegosaurus? Nutella stripes? You get the idea.
Or make a small pancake (more of a pikelet) and use your cookie cutters to cut out dinosaur shapes from the cooked pancakes. Our LDA had some ‘baby’ Stegosaurus in a nest of banana and pancake chips today. Of course, someone will have the eat the rest of the pancake.
If you have room for another piece of equipment in your kitchen, you could always get one of these pancake pans, with dinosaur images. Grease well to avoid sticking!
Dinosaur pancakes
Easy and delicious buttermilk pancakes with a prehistoric twist - a dinosaur image in it - that will delight your little dinosaur fan.
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour, sifted
- 3 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/4 ups milk + 1/2 cup for consistency
- 3/4 cup Buttermilch
- 75 g butter, melted
- Vegetable oil and butter for the pan
Instructions
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and whisk through.
- Place the egg, milk, buttermilk and butter in a separate bowl and whisk until combined.
- Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. If there are any lumps, blitz the mixture briefly with an immersion blender to remove them.
- Check the density of the mixture. If it is too thick, add a little more milk, mixing well, so that it is a good pouring consistency.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add a little cooking oil and/or butter to the pan, as you prefer.
- Pour cooking oil into a small bowl and then dunk your chosen cookie cutter in the oil, moving it around so that it is covered with oil. Place the cookie cutter in the pan.
- Pour or ladle a small amount batter into the cookie cutter so that there is a thin layer of batter for the whole shape formed by the cookie cutter. Allow to cook until bubble start to form.
- Carefully remove the cookie cutter from the pan, then add about one-third of a cup of a the mixture to the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pancake and cook for 1 minute or until golden.
- Serve in small stacks with maple syrup, lemon and sugar, butter or fresh fruit. Or decorate it like a dinosaur with nutella and fresh fruit.
Notes
Take care when removing the cookie cutter from the pan - it will be HOT!
Make sure your cookie cutter is made of metal, not plastic.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 550Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 13gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 10gCholesterol 97mgSodium 544mgCarbohydrates 75gFiber 2gSugar 25gProtein 9g
Nutrition information is a guide only as it will depend on the specific products and brands you choose to use for this recipe.
Try some dinosaur pancakes for prehistoric breakfast fun
Don’t do what we did! Instead, follow our tips for some easy dinosaur pancakes that are sure to be a hit with any little dinosaur fan. They’re perfect for a fun prehistoric breakfast (such as after a dinosaur sleepover party!), as a light snack for hungry Tyrannosaurs and are perfect for Pancake Day!
Which method will you try?
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