Want a fun way to use up those holiday candy canes? Crush them up to peppermint flavor your pancakes!
Take your favorite pancake batter and add crushed candy canes - it really is that simple!
And, if you'd like to make it even more fun, use the pieces to make smiley face shapes in the pancakes. Your kids will really look forward to this holiday breakfast!
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Why I love this recipe
It's so fun to make everyday food with a special holiday twist. These pancakes are a perfect example of that.
I made these with my granddaughter last year after Christmas, and it was so fun! It's just a unique way to use those candy canes that doesn't end up being even more candy. Because, by the day after Christmas, you're usually looking for a candy reprieve, am I right?
Ingredients
How to make these candy cane pancakes
Start with your favorite pancake batter. I'm including the ingredients for homemade almond milk pancakes, but feel free to use a box mix if you need it to be even easier.
Then, crush up some candy canes and add the pieces to the batter. Stir together, then cook as usual.
The peppermint flavor will be in every bite of these pancakes. Your candy canes with probably be in many different sized pieces, some being large enough to provide a little crunch, whereas others will be tiny enough to simply melt into the batter and provide flavor.
And, if you'd like to make smiley faces, just save the curved part of the candy cane to use as a mouth, and 2 larger chunks to be the eyes.
When you cook them on the griddle, the face will partially disappear into the pancake batter.
But, kids will know it's there, and will always want to pull out the smile and make their own faces with it.
Super fun!
Sula's Tips and Variations
The most obvious variation to this is to add some chocolate chips. I like the mini chips if possible.
Peppermint and chocolate are a match made in heaven! And every kid seems to love chocolate chip pancakes, so putting peppermint in the mix just makes sense!
The way you approach making a smiley face depends up how big your candy canes are. A 6-inch candy cane makes a nice big smile, just perfectly sized for your pancake.
The mini candy canes are more challenging, the smile is just too "narrow".
My solution to that is to break the curved area in half and then flip the pieces around to form a wider smile. It turns out a lot better that way. 😀
More Recipes for Holiday Fun
📖 Recipe
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Peppermint Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 3 Tablespoons butter melted (plant based for dairy free)
- 1 egg
- 1 ¼ cup almond milk plain or vanilla
- Cooking spray or similar
- ¼ cup candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 Tablespoon sugar
- Whisk in melted butter, egg and almond milk. Add crushed candy canes if desired, or save to make patterns in each pancake. Stir until well combined. Let batter rest for 5 minutes.3 Tablespoons butter, 1 egg, 1 ¼ cup almond milk, ¼ cup candy canes
- Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray (or use butter/oil as preferred). Pour batter into hot skillet, about ¼ cup of batter for each pancake.Cooking spray or similar
- Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides and center of each pancake. Flip and cook until golden, about 1 to 2 more minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
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