Fun Pancakes for Breakfast

I just want to show some of the pancakes I have made for breakfast....The kulilits reaction is priceless every time I surprise them with pancakes for breakfast.....

                                                          Caterpillar

                                                     Heart with arrow

                                                             Turtle

                                                 

                                                              Bunny

I use the copycat ihop recipe for my pancakes....

Ingredients:

Nonstick spray
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
a pinch of salt

Instructions:

1.  Preheat a skillet over medium heat.  Use a pan with a nonstick surface or apply a little nonstick spray.

2.  In a blender or with a mixer, combine all of the remaining ingredients until smooth.

3.  Laddle approximately 1/3 cup of batter into the hot skillet, forming 5-inch circles.

4.  When the edges appear to harden, after a minute or two (when the batter starts to show small bubbles), flip the pancakes. They should be golden brown.

5.  Cook pancakes on the othe side for same amount of time, until golden brown.

Makes 8 to 10 pancakes

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/IHOP-Pancakes-Recipe.html

Most delicious Banana cake / Banana muffin

My two boys (my hubby and my eldest son) can't get enough of this.  My mama gave this delicious banana cake/muffin recipe to me and  I just tweaked it a little bit. I would say this has been one of my family's favorite cake/snack. I've lost count on how many times I've made this cake/muffin.  Overripe bananas are best for this kind of recipe and hubby would always tease me when he sees overripe bananas in our fruit bowl "you're saving those bananas for the muffins right?" LOL!!!!It's very easy to make because there are only 8 ingredients that most probably you already have in your kitchen.

Ingredients:

3 to 4 bananas mashed
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Procedure:

1. Mix the mashed banana, sugar, eggs, vanilla and oil together. Set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together baking powder, sugar, salt and flour. (sometimes I use 1/2 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour).

3. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together! Pour into greased muffin tins.

4. Bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 25 minutes. Enjoy! 

Makes 12 muffins

***You can add nuts (walnuts, almonds etc.), but most of the time I add chocolate chips 1 cup Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips or 3/4 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and my kids really love it:))

PUTO

The other day I saw this paper on our fridge. 

My eldest son is requesting potto (puto) LOL!!! He may have missed this so much since I haven't cooked this for quite some time.
Wish granted!!!

Puto is a kind of steamed rice cake in Philippine cuisine. It is eaten as is or with butter and/or grated fresh coconut or as accompaniment to a number of savory dishes for breakfast (most notably, with dinuguan).
There are lots of variation like Puto Bumbong (this is very popular during christmas season), Puto Lanson, Puto Manapla, Puto Maya, Puto Pao and Puto Mamon. I have only tried Puto Mamon.
Puto Mamon - A puto mixture that does not include rice, here's my revised recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup evap
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 tbsp melted butter
cheese (for toppings)

Procedure

1. Mix all dry ingredients alternately. Set aside

2. Beat eggs. Add milk and water. Stir and mix well.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture.  Add butter (melted)

4. Pour the mixture into containers/molders and put cheese or salted egg on top (I don't know what happened but the cheese sank at the bottom).

5. Steam for 12 to 15 minutes.

Yields 24 pcs

Original Puto recipe (with cheese or salted egg) courtesy of Ana Marie S.J. Almoninia
6 cups of flour
4 1/2 cups white sugar
6 tbsp baking powder
5 whole eggs (medium to large)
4 1/2 cups evaporated milk
  or (1 1/2 cups milk + 3 cups water)
     (2 1/2 cups milk + 2 cups water)
     (3 cups milk + 1 1/2 cups water)
1/2 cup melted butter

Wealthy Affiliate Free for Ten days

I have some really exciting news for you. Kyle & Carson (the owners of Wealthy Affiliate) are doing something I’ve never seen done online before. Wealthy Affiliate will be free for 10 days. They're actually going to give you total access for FREE for 10 days starting May 1st, 2012.  The offer is only good for a week. So if you join anytime from May 1st to the 8th, you'll get 10 days of full access to all of Wealthy Affiliate.
It's for free you have nothing to lose.  Try the entire program for free for 10 days. Every piece of training, every tool, every resource, the entire community will be available to help. If you like what you see, stick around and work with us towards building your own online business. If it’s not for you, no worries, you don’t have to pay for something you won’t use.

and as a bonus

I'm giving you this free Internet Wealth Guide 2.0. 

Ghirardelli Triple ChocolateTruffle cake

I was looking for something very special to bake for my hubby's birthday and I come across an award winning chocolate cake. This is a must try cake. The award winning recipe was submitted by Gigi Burton of Plainsboro, NJ. She won a deluxe Hawaiian family cruise. Burton’s simple, rich Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake features a semi-sweet chocolate cake glazed with  milk chocolate ganache and it’s topped with white chocolate shavings and served chilled. 

Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for pan                             
3 cups Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
8 large eggs, cold
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips
2 ounces Ghirardelli Classic White Chocolate Baking Bar, chilled

Note: this recipe requires that cake is refrigerated overnight before frosting.

Preheat oven to 325° degrees.

Position rack in center of oven. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 2-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Melt butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips over double boiler until smooth; cool slightly.

Meanwhile, with a hand mixer or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip eggs and salt on medium speed until doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.

Gently fold, in thirds, whipped eggs into melted chocolate.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan and place pan in water bath. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, about 40 minutes. Remove pan from water bath to a cooling rack and cool cake completely in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To remove cake, dip the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan in warm water and run a thin metal spatula around the inside of the pan. Invert onto a plate to unmold. Remove parchment paper.

To prepare ganache, bring heavy cream to a simmer and pour over milk chocolate chips. Stir gently until smooth; cool slightly.  Pour ganache over top of cake and spread with an offset spatula to evenly cover. (There will be some ganache left over.)

Chill cake until ganache sets, about 30 minutes. To garnish, use vegetable peeler or grater to grate white chocolate bar into curls or shavings onto top of cake.

Serves 12.

Courtesy of Ghirardelli Chocolate Company