Pancake Projects

My inspiration

By mistake, I purchased Maple and Brown Sugar flavored Mini-Wheats. Since this blog is all about trying new things, and being ok with mistakes, I didn't feel too bad. The older boys did not like the flavor, but our toddler did. I thought he would gradually make his way through the cereal over the next few months, but then I was struck by a thought - maple goes great with pancakes! I think maple goes great with sausage, too, but my adoring spouse is always slightly nauseated by that combination.

He loves crushing stuff

One morning I put my oldest to work crumbling up some Mini-Wheats. Notice the manic gleam in his eye that resulted from parent-approved destruction.

I whipped up some pancake batter and the aroma of maple filled the kitchen even though the bag was tightly sealed. I felt this was a good sign for my experiment.  I liberally sprinkled the crushed Mini-Wheats onto the pancake batter settled into pale circles on the skillet.

Crunchy but not mapley

Four of the five family members who were willing to taste the pancakes gave them a reasonably good approval rating, but no one asked for seconds. The crunch was nice but I felt there was little or no maple flavor.




I felt like I was on to something with this combination of my two favorite breakfast items, cereal and pancakes. I used the absolute last remaining amount of boxed pancake mix in the entire house for my next experiment, Cinnamon Toast Crunch pancakes. Doesn't that sound tasty?

His first crush?

This time, the toddler got the chance to crush the cereal. He was more enthusiastic than thorough, unfortunately, so I had to finish up that task myself.

Before the burn

Pancake batter back on the skillet, crushed cereal rained down and my hopes were high. I envisioned a warm, crunchy, sweet combo and hummed the only part of the old jingle that I could remember "Cinnamon and sugar bakers!" while keeping time with my black rubber spatula missing one corner. (How did I burn that off?)


One quick flip of my pancake invention and I remembered a crucial fact, sugar burns pretty quick. The same four family members gamely gave these cakes a go, but agreed that burnt sugar is only tasty on campfire marshmallows.

Until I get more pancake mix, my experiments are on hold, but I'm taking suggestions for future cereal/pancake combinations as well as catchy name for these tasty treats. So far I've only come up with Pan-cereal (which sounds like an international economic treaty) and CerealCakes (which sounds like a cross between Paula Dean and Dexter). I'm open to suggestion.