For one night when Little Chef Dad is away for work we usually have breakfast for dinner. This evening Little Chef A wanted to make German Pancakes.  She remembers loving them after making them for the first time with Grandma. Don’t you love how memories are tied together with food!
Little Chef A got out the eggs to crack. It is so funny to me that she says, “Oopsy” each time she cracks it open with her thumbs as if she made a mistake! Followed by the much anticipated, “Icky, my hands are getting dirty! I can’t wash my hands until throw away the shells.”

The next thing she needed to do was measure out the flour and the milk. She decided to use the same measuring cup for both. I asked her to explain how she was going to do that. Here was our conversation:

She measured and poured in the flour followed by the milk (in the dirty measuring cup). “The flour is messy that is what I don’t like about it. Fluffy flour.” Since the flour got her hands a little bit dirty she said,”I’ll wash my hands really quick.” Little Chef A was so careful not to let the milk drip from the measuring device, yet there is flour all over the counter!

The salt was next “just to make it a bit salty – salt is a good seasoning.”   When I found the recipe I read some of the reviews. Some reviewers said they added vanilla and cinnamon. “Do you want to do any of that, then you can change the recipe and make it your own.” I asked. “Hmmm, I think it can use a bit of more flavoring. Let’s try 1 teaspoon of vanilla. It sounds good enough for me. I love vanilla, it smells so good.” So, now she has altered another recipe to make it her own. If I’m not careful she will be changing all the recipes pretty soon! I’m not sure I am ready for that. But, it would be a fun journey!
Then it was time to blend. The stick blender is easy for Little Chef A to use, but “it hurts my ears.”  She is not a fan of loud noises.  We really should have used a blender as the recipe suggested. The stick blender worked alright. There were still a few lumps but Little Chef A thought it would be alright.

All that was left was to put some butter in a pan to melt and then pour in the batter. “Why do we put butter in the pan?” So it doesn’t stick. I love that she is so curious!

While the pancake was cooking in the oven it was time for the Buttermilk Syrup. It called for some buttermilk which we did not have. Instead we used milk plus 1 Tablespoon of vinegar. She poured 1 cup of milk instead of 3/4 cup so she was able to drink the rest out of the measuring cup. “That was delicious!” Apparently the milk got her thinking…”What if we were people on a cooking show. That would be fun!” That would be exciting. I read an article about children cooking the other day and the author suggested to make a video. We could make our own cooking show just for us! My Little Chefs would absolutely LOVE to do this. How do I know this? Well, immediately following watching Worse Cooks In America or Cupcake Wars my Little Chefs are reliving the show with their play kitchen…almost word for word. It makes me laugh every time!
Little Chef A measured out the sugar. It was hard to for her to do it since the sugar container was pretty full. She was trying so hard to fill the measuring cup but not let any sugar escape to the counter. She was quite successful this time!

She wanted to know what the baking soda does in this recipe. A few minutes later we knew! It was a good thing she chose a saucepan bigger then what I thought we would need because the syrup expanded to the very top of the pan! I said, “I guess this is what the baking soda does
to the recipe.”
After boiling for 7 minutes then adding the vanilla it was time to taste. Little Chef A said, “It tastes like caramel.” In fact it looks like caramel too. The color was such a dark brown I had to smell it to see if it burnt. No, it didn’t. The color must look so dark because of the dark pan.
All the Little Chefs LOVED this recipe. They each had to have it with the powdered sugar and the caramel sauce, I mean the Buttermilk Syrup! This recipe is a keeper! It was easy to make. It would be even easier if you used a regular blender and make sure you use a much larger saucepan then you think for the buttermilk syrup.