Gruffalo's Child Mini Pancakes

The Gruffalo has been very big in our house since last year.   Jane even got the Gruffalo Crumble and other recipes cookbook for Christmas.  Here is a recipe for Gruffalo's Child Mini Pancakes that we've adapted from some of the ideas in the book. It uses raspberries as the Gruffalo's Child's pink prickles, icing sugar as snow and mint leaves as some of the deep dark wood.

We watched both the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo's Child at Christmas time and have been enjoying Gruffalo style meals since.  The recipe book is great and we've been happily creating recipes and new ones using it's fun ideas. Most cooking involves motor skills and this kind of activity also involves some imagination which is great practice for kids with autism and other conditions too.

If you've read The Gruffalo or used the Makaton resource pack, you will know he is recognisable thanks to many features including the 'purple prickles all over his back'.  In The Gruffalo's Child, the Gruffalo's daughter (who has pink prickles) ventures off into the snowy deep dark wood, looking for the Big Bad Mouse.  But does the Big Bad Mouse exist, and does he really eat Gruffalos? This could not be more up Jane's street. She loves stories and cooking so was all involved in this activity. Here's what you'll need for your Gruffalo's Child Mini Pancakes.

Ingredients to serves 4:

• Self raising flour, 110g
• Caster sugar, 15g
• Egg, large
• Natural Yogurt, 150g
• Milk, 2 tablespsoons
• Vegetable oil, 2-3 teaspoons
• Fresh raspberries, around 12
• Icing Sugar or desiccated coconut (to make the snow)
• Mint leaves (optional)

Method:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. This is a great bilateral motor skill for kids - hold and tap the sieve
• Then add the egg, yogurt and milk and stir together to make the batter.  Again great for motor skills, holding the bowl and stirring with the other hand
• Time for the grown up to add a drop of the vegetable oil to a medium heat pan and drop in large tablespoons of the pancakes mix, each tablespoon will make one mini pancake. Cook for about 2 minutes and flip 
• Kiddie can add some of the raspberries onto the now soft uncooked side of the pancake and cook for about 2 minutes
• Grown-up can then flip the pancakes, sealing in the pink prickles 
• When the pancakes are golden brown take them out the pan and serve immediately in little piles depending on appetites!
• Cover with a few more pink prickles (raspberries) and sieve or sprinkle over some snow (icing sugar or desiccated coconut ) and some of the deep dark wood (mint leaves) to finish

This is a yummy fun recipe that gets the kids motor skills working and they have great fun with all the sieving. Possibly the 'snow' went a bit all over the place - but that's part of the fun right? If you liked this, you could also try to make Big Bad Mouse pancakes, using banana slices as the scary eyes and chantilly cream as the snow!

This post also supports the #wetalkmakaton sign of the week
Why not use The Gruffalo Makaton resource pack to accompany your recipe or reading the books?

This is not a sponsored post - we just love cooking, The Gruffalo and Makaton!