Déjà vu: Chistmas Pancakes and Failed Santa Hats

What happens when a food blogger gets sick of food?

Said food blogger neglects her blog and the blogging community because she doesn't want to see, hear, or read anything that has anything to do with food. I am not too excited about cooking or taking pictures of food these days, so I don't have super cool Christmas treats for this post. Instead, it's a déjà vu post with more pancakes and some failed Santa hats.


Pumpkin-Ginger Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp molasses
1 cup to 1 1/4 cup soy milk*

1- Whisk dry ingredients together.
2- Whisk together the pumpkin puree and the liquid ingredients. I needed 1 1/4 cup of soy milk, but you might want to start with 1 cup and add more later if you need it.
3- Add the liquids to the dry mix and stir until smooth.
6- Lightly coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and preheat.
7- Spray the inside of a metal gingerbread man cookie cutter with cooking spray and place it on the hot skillet. From now on you should use tongs to handle the hot cookie cutter!
8- Using a large cookie scoop, pour a scoopful of batter inside the cookie cutter and cook over low-medium heat until the bottoms are golden brown.
9- Carefully and using your tongs, pull the cookie cutter up. If you didn't spray it enough, you might need to use a knife to separate the edges from the cookie cutter.
10- Flip the pancake over and cook until the other side turns golden brown.

* You will need at least 1 cup of milk, how much more you might need depends on how soft your pumpkin puree is. They should be soft enough to easily pour the batter inside the cookie cutter but not too soft that most of the batter leaks out of the bottom of the cookie butter.

This recipe makes 10 gingerbread-man pancakes using a 10 inch long cookie cutter.

I used the last bit of batter to make a gingerbread house pancake.

Pumpkin-Gingerbread Pancakes

It would be so pretty decorated with candy! Candy for breakfast? Well, it's just one day!

Anyway, here are the failed Santa hats. They don't resemble hats so much when they are made with raspberries, and the buttercream brims (thank you Aimee!) should be really tiny for this to work. I definitely like my Strawberry Santa Hats better. By the way, the cupcakes are the basic vanilla cupcakes from VCTOTW.

Not so Santa-ish Raspberry Santa Hats

The tiny raspberries look so awkward!

Comments

  1. Hooray for being back to posting (I've missed you!!), accomplishing your health goals, making cuuuute pancakes, and winning an award!! :-)

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  2. Um, I wish my "failed" food looked that good. Those gingerbread pancakes are adorable!

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  3. WOW, those pancakes look delish AND SO cute!

    Glad to see you are back! Keep those posts a-comin'! ;-)

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  4. Those are the cutest-beyond-cutest pancakes!

    River, I totally know where you're coming from in re: not wanting to look at food, cook, etc. Honestly, I really don't like cooking at all, because I am around food so much! But I do it because if I need to eat, I want it to be good, ya know? And also honestly, when I read peoples' blog posts, I like reading the commentary more than looking at the food photos (except when the food photos are artistic or creative, like your pancakes, because then I feel like I'm looking at art, not food. And you KNOW I really love artistic-looking food. Hello cupcakes!).

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  5. I LOVE the new pancake recipe...this will be put on my to-make list!
    And I cannot wait until the other 2 recipes for meatloaf and mini pumpkin pies =)

    Congrats on the weight gain!!!

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  6. Congrats on keeping up the weight--now go and enjoy the rest of your holidays! Those pancakes and Santa hats (gorgeous, silly!) will certainly help make it a fun season! :)

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  7. sounds like the weight gain is a success. I can see why you have had enough of thinking about food. Doesn't sound like you have much time to think about anything but eating.
    The pancakes are adorable. After a previous post I have my heart set on making cute little Christmas shaped pancakes for day of breakies.

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  8. These look fantastic! I am making these as soon as I am back home and done with finals. Thank you!

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  9. Does your jaw hurt from all the chewing?hehe

    Congrats on the 3 pounder!!!Wheee. Hopefully your body is getting the idea that it needs to pack you up since you've been eating more. Supposedly our bodies wants us to stay fat for survival....which is what I'll be if I really am your next door neighbor.

    Ya gotta stop with all the amazing baked goods! KIDDING! Keep it coming...that's what I love you for! Yes, you deserve the award so much, you got it TWICE!

    ps: your clothes can't be under the radar cause YOU aren't;)
    pss:placements were from crate & barrel ages ago.

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  10. I love the gingerpancake men! And good work on the weight gain :)

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  11. Those gingerbread pancakes are so cute. My husband wouldn't appreciate the work it would take to make them all cute like yours (times like this when I wish I had kids) but I think I'll still make them - just round like normal.

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  12. Congrats on the weight gain! And I don't blame you for being all fooded out (I'm getting pretty close myself!) >:o)

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  13. I bookmarked the pancake recipe, because they sound delicious. And they look way cute too!

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  14. Those look so delicious and so festive! Congrats on the weight gain!

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  15. Your poor, poor thing... I hate when I'm not hungry too! What's a foodie to do when appetite fails?! So sad. But you have managed to mesmerize me with your creations once again. Pumpkin-ginger pancakes sound incredible, and I do not think the raspberry santa hats are a failure! They are really, really cute; they look so nice on top of those cuppies.

    Congrats on your award!

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  16. I think your pancakes are very impressive and full of the Christmas spirit! Someday I hope to hve just a fraction of your talent.

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  17. congrats on packing on some weight, girl!

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  18. Great job on the 3lbs!
    Those pancakes are so sweet - giving me ideas for breakfast on the 25th! I love your new header w/the holiday food, too!

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  19. Your santa hats look delicious to me! And congrats on the weight gain! I totally understand the food burn-out (especially blog burn-out), but I love it when you are around and posting. ((hugs!))

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  20. Good to see you (and your creations) back again. Congrats on the weight-putting-on, pass some of it my way will you?? :)

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  21. Please don't get sick of food! Congrats on your weight gain quest. Three pounds in three weeks is quite an accomplishment and maybe a little pause will give you back your strenght.
    Cutest pancakes ever, btw.

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  22. nice job on 3 pounds total so far, River! that rocks! i know you said you're working on munching on a lot of yummies right now (and holding off on the cardio so you can gain a bit), but i just wanted to ask if you've thought about maybe some weight training when you're ready to workout after the holidays?! i ended up putting on a few pounds of muscle with some easy weight training (just lifting weights & such 3 days a week) - just wanted to make a suggestion, as it worked for me alright! :) i know you love yoga - but i didn't know if you had looked into weights as well.

    sorry you're get'n sick of food! i'm glad you're back though! i missed your posts the most! nothing wrong with santa hats & tasty gingerbread pumpkin pancakes! mmmmmmmmmm! i am totally gonna be on the look out for mini pumpkin pies & mini meatloaves! yay!

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  23. heyy river!! i know what you mean by getting completely "fooded out." sometimes, cooking and taking pictures of everything gets tiring. i don't know how some bloggers post every meal they've eaten in a day!! i feel like my post would take up my whole page.

    good job on your weight gain!! that's great progress. whenever i started cycling, i gained weight because my leg and butt muscles were getting so big. i couldn't fit into my pants anymore haha

    i love the gingerbread house pancake. it is just too cute.

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  24. hurray - congrats on the award.

    That gingerbread house pancake rocks!!

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  25. I've given you an award as well so stop by my blog to come see what it is!

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  26. super job on the weight gain river!!! it takes a lot of work to even gain one pound! i can relate, i rarely have an appetite but i must make sure i keep eating :) i hope you can now relax and enjoy the holiday season!

    the ginger-pumpkin pancakes are so cute! i would love to eat breakfast at your house!

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  27. Do you have a ridiculously speedy metabolism or are you recovering from...a forbidden Ed?

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  28. River, those ginger pancakes are super cute. Sorry your weight gain has been such a chore! Glad to hear you can take a break and maintain. Have a good week!

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  29. Those pancakes looks AWESOME - love the pumpkin!! and they're so CUTE :)

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  30. Thank you so much for all the congrats and the encouragement! I'm already un-sick of food after a day off all the psycho eating!

    Kelly, thank you so much for the award! You are so sweet and I am so honored!! I will certainly brag about it on my next post!

    Jessy, I've been thinking about it and you mentioning it is the little push I needed to get off my butt and do it! Thank you so much for the suggestion, and I'm so glad it worked out for you, too!

    Alexis, I do have a ridiculously speedy metabolism! I got that from my dad.

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  31. Congrats on the awards and the adorable treats and your 3 pounds!

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  32. Aww, i'm sorry that you are sick of food:( Great job on the weight gain though!

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  33. river, it took me about 2 months to just get a side with only 1 red square showing!!! haha

    it definitely is yin and yang.

    and annoying, too. hehe

    i just noticed that the gingerbread man has a cashew halve as his mouth!! that is so cute. you are eating like a queen.

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  34. You are so creative with your food. Geez. I am jealous. :)

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  35. Glad you're back. I know what you mean - sometimes I can't think of one more dinner.........

    Those pancakes look great. I love gingerbread. And thanks for the gulten tip - I will try that next time!

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  36. I wouldn't call those Santa hats failures! I'd call them yummy!

    As for the weight gain quest, I think you outta stop with the healthy snacks (like nuts and trail mix bars) and start gorging on more cute Christmas cookies, cakes, and pies! Of course, this is a selfish request...I just wanna see the pictures.

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  37. You're not alone in blog neglection!
    Those pancakes are uber cute. And I think you're "failed" santa hats aren't really a failer.... they're cupcakes which can never fail in my mind.
    Glad to hear the weight gain is going well!

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  38. Good for you for putting on a few pounds! But please don't get too sick of food to post some fun treats for us. I think your breakfast look super!

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  39. Mr Baby Bear and I say "Harlow" and we hope that our problems gets fixed too. We don't wanna miss out on all the Rivvy & X-mas desserts!

    Plus we wanna cheer on ya weight gain.

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  40. I feel like I've been out of it too. I got behind on my blog inbox and I feel bad when I check "mark all as read." The pancakes look great! I've never made vegan pancakes! I should try!

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  41. I am again amazed by the food you come up with here - besides sounding really delicious, they always look fantastic. Ginger pancakes sound like perfect winter breakfast food!

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  42. too cute! figures you'd find a way to make a gingerbread house in a frying pan. I think berries instead of candy is better.

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