Celebrating everyday life with Jennifer Carroll

At the grocery store this week they had a special on strawberries – buy one pack, get one free – so we are on Strawberry overload and I had to get thinking about the best way to use them so that we would eat them all. Well, I love pancakes, we eat them regularly and with Valentine’s Day approaching I thought it would be fun to make some Strawberry Pancakes. But, if I’m going to make Strawberry Pancakes, why not take it one step further and make them Heart Shaped Strawberry Pancakes?! So, here we have delicious Valentines Day Recipes for Homemade Strawberry Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup.

Aren’t these strawberries luscious looking? And, they are as delicious as they look! Who knew you could get such gorgeous and s-w-e-e-t berries in January?!

Bisquick makes this a very easy recipe to whip up on a whim!

:: Ingredients for Pancakes ::
2 cups Bisquick
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Fresh Strawberry Juice*
1/2 cup V8 Strawberry Banana Juice
Red gel food coloring

*I used 14 medium strawberries to make 1/2 cup of strawberry juice.

Mix first four ingredients in a bowl, batter will be light pink. If you want light pink pancakes you don’t have to add food coloring but I wanted a more pronounced pink color so I added a couple of drops of red food coloring to get the color I wanted. Now you’re ready to cook!

I wanted my heart shaped pancakes to be pretty and I knew I couldn’t make a “pretty” cake by free-handing them. I’ve seen pancake shaping tools in stores but I don’t have one – but I do have a big collection of cookie cutters and I got to thinking… “Isn’t this basically the same thing?” and sure enough, it worked like a charm! Here’s what I did:

Lightly spray inside of cookie cutter with cooking spray (repeat this every time you make a pancake – it keeps the batter from sticking to it) and place it on a pre-heated pan. NOTE: Only use metal cookie cutters and be careful as they will get hot!

Using a ladle, pour a thin layer of batter into the pan within the cookie cutter as shown above in photo number 1. Wait until you see little bubbles forming as shown. Then, using tongs, carefully lift cookie cutter straight up. You may need to jiggle the cookie cutter ever-so-slightly to release it from the batter.

This is the pancake just after I’ve taken the cookie cutter out of the pan. See! It keeps it’s shape!! YAY!

Voila! Flip and you have an adorable pink pancake!! Cook for about another minute on this side and set aside on a paper towel lined plate to help it not get soggy from the condensation of the heat against the plate while you make more.

Want a sweet Strawberry syrup to compliment your pancakes? Here’s my recipe!

:: STRAWBERRY SYRUP INGREDIENTS ::
2 Tablespoons seedless Strawberry Jam
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 Tablespoon Butter

In a small sauce pan combine all three ingredients and heat over low heat stirring occasionally until heated through and syrup is smooth. Serve immediately.

I also made some cute little heart shaped pats of butter using some candy molds that I had on hand. Easy and adorable!

I hope you like these Valentines Day Recipes and will give them a try for yourself or as a romantic breakfast in bed for your sweetheart!

Happy Celebrating!

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