These creative, fun pancake ideas are as arty as they are tasty. In this recipe, you’ll learn to make a floral scene and a cute crab, but why stop there? There’s some fiddly cutting, so you might want to pre-cut some of the elements for your children, or give them safe scissors to work with.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Add the eggs and milk to the well and whisk, gradually drawing in the dry ingredients from the sides to make a batter. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.
Melt a little of the butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat.
Pour a small ladleful of batter into the pan, just enough to cover the base. Fry for about 1 minute, then loosen the edges with a spatula, flip and fry for another 30 seconds or so until golden brown and speckled on both sides.
Repeat for the remaining crêpes. You should get 8-10 in total, depending on the size of your pan.
To make the cute crab
Slice one-third off the side of an apple and place it, skin side up, in the centre of your pancake.
Arrange 2 long melon batons to form the stalks of the eyes and 2 shorter batons to form the “arms”.
Place 4 mandarin segments to form the pincers. Slice 2 grapes into quarters lengthways and arrange them to form the legs.
For the eyes, slice a grape thinly and place a disc at the end of each eyestalk. Place 2 pomegranate seeds in the centre of the eyes to complete the scene.
To make the floral scene
Slice the edge of the remaining apple thinly to create 4–5 flower stalks and arrange on the pancake.
Slice 2–3 grapes into quarters lengthways and arrange in pairs to form the petals of the flowers.
If you’d also like to add a bee buzzing around the flowers, place a mandarin segment at the top of the scene to form the body of a bee. Use thin strips of grape to form the stripes, eye and sting. Cut and shape small pieces of apple to form the wings.
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Notes
Explore the supermarket and encourage your children to look for bright colours and unusual patterns to add to their scenes. This is about creating a positive, enthusiastic relationship with as wide a variety of foods as possible.