Heart Pancakes

As a general practice, I don't do elaborate celebrations for holidays but I do think a few simple touches can make the day special. Today's is Valentine's Day and one of our favorite traditions is to make heart pancakes.

To keep it quick on a school morning, I used a "Just Add Water" pancake mix and added some extra water to make the batter runny. I did large open hearts, small hearts and XXOOs. Sometimes, my kids like to help make the shapes. That's part of the fun.

The secret to is to pour the batter in a picnic-type squeeze ketchup bottle. This gives the best control over the designs. I have previously done quite intricate designs but it is more difficult to flip them and I admit that I was in a hurry this morning to get kids off to school so we kept it simple.

These are small enough to pop in your mouth without any toppings like syrup or jam and make great snacks for the rest of the day. Happy Valentine's!