Mickey Cakes...

In the mornings, AG loves to eat his breakfast on his special Mickey Mouse plates. He enjoys breakfast even more if he gets Mickey Cakes. I have a sandwich Mickey cutter that is perfect for cutting out child sized portions. In the fall I started making my own pancake mix because it was more cost effective. (Plus, they just taste waaaaaaay better!) I found a recipe on Money Saving Mom and then adapted it to my needs. Click on the link for the original recipe and my adapted one follows.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

~2 cups whole-wheat flour (I use whatever I have...which is usually whatever was on sale with coupons! They are great either way.)
~2 tablespoons sugar
~2 teaspoons baking powder
~1/2 teaspoon baking soda
~2 beaten eggs
~2 cups lowfat buttermilk
~4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (you can cut it in half but they cook/brown more evenly if you do 4.)
~Handful of mini chocolate chips

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. 

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add butter, then eggs, then buttermilk and mix. Lastly, add the chocolate chips. Stir until just moistened. Some days I add an extra splash of buttermilk to get the right consistency. 

Cook on a pancake griddle. While I'm mixing the wet and the dry ingredients I let the pan heat up on high and then right before I drop my batter I cut it down to medium. I use a 1/4 cup a batter per pancake. Serve immediately or cool and freeze. Cut in to shapes with cookie cutters if you want. 

On her website she freezes them and I have done that but I prefer them unfrozen. I actually take half of what we make and put it in a container and pop it in to the fridge. I then microwave them in the following morning for breakfast. They'll keep for several days that way. Also, if you reheat them cut them with a cookie cutter before you stick them in the microwave it's much easier. 

Lastly, I used regular sized chocolate chips the first few times I made them BUT AG ended up with chocolate EVERYWHERE. So, I switched to the mini chips and it's much better. I can usually get 4-5 batches out of one bag...and then you think we get two breakfasts out of one batch so that's 8-10 meals on one bag of chips. Not to shabby. :) Enjoy!