German Pancakes A Traditional Family Recipe

This shop, German Pancakes A Traditional Family Recipe, has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CapturingTraditions #CollectiveBias

Here is a tasty recipe that is great for busy school days, leisurely weekends, or special holiday brunches — German Pancakes! Make them a tradition in your family.

German Pancakes Recipe

Capturing a Family Tradition

When I was a kid, it was always a great morning when you woke up and smelled German Pancakes cooking. Mmm, I’m getting hungry already. Why is that? Because we are making German Pancakes today. This recipe is easy, versatile, and delicious! That is why it has been a family tradition for generations.

German Pancakes are a crepe-like pancake, they are large and thin. You brush them with Gold’n Soft spreadable butter and add cinnamon and sugar, or jellies, jams, fresh fruit, or whatever you like. Roll the pancake, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired and serve. They are perfect for a family with differing tastes because you make them individually. Have all one flavor (like me, cinnamon and sugar – yum!), or mix it up.

These pancakes are quick and easy, so they are a perfect choice for fueling the kids up before school, a leisurely weekend breakfast, or a holiday brunch.

We’re making German Pancakes today. An easy, and delicious #recipe! #CapturingTraditions AD

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German Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients:

1-1/4 Cup – Milk
4 – Eggs
1 Cup – Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Gold’n Soft Spreadable Butter
Fillings of Choice: Cinnamon and Sugar; Jams; Jellies, Fruit, etc.
Powdered Sugar (Optional)
Syrup (optional)

Directions:

Crack open the Eggs into a bowl.
Add Milk to eggs, beat well.
Mix Flour and Salt in a separate bowl.
Stir flour and salt mixture into the milk and eggs gradually, until smooth.
The batter will be thin.
Heat a heavy 8-inch to 10-inch skillet and grease lightly with butter or oil.
Pour only enough batter to make a very thin pancake. Tip the skillet from side to side and around to help spread the pancake batter as needed.
Cook on one side (without flipping) until the pancake begins to blister or bubble. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until a light golden color. Do not over cook. You do not want them to get hard or crispy. NOTE: Pancakes cook very quickly, pay attention.
Remove from skillet and place on a board.
Once you have several pancakes stacked on the board, you can begin filling one at a time.
Brush one side only with Gold’n Soft butter.
Add about 1 to 2 Tablespoon(s) of your desired filling: Cinnamon and Sugar; Jam; Jelly; Fruit; etc. to the buttered side.
Roll pancake from one edge all the way across to the other side.
Place rolled pancake (or two) on a plate and dust with Powdered Sugar.

NOTE: If you have two cooks, one can be cooking the pancakes while the other fills and rolls them. Kids love to help with these pancakes.

You can see above how I butter a pancake and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar before rolling it — that’s my favorite! Below is a slideshow of how to roll a German pancake with fresh fruit.

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 1

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 2

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 3

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 4

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 5

Raspberry Banana German Pancakes 6

Printable Recipe – German Pancakes

5 from 1 reviews

German Pancakes Recipe

Save Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

2 mins

Total time

7 mins

Here is a tasty recipe that is great for busy school days, leisurely weekends, or special holiday brunches -- German Pancakes! Make them a tradition in your family.

from: Life With Lorelai

Type: Breakfast

Cuisine: German

Ingredients:

1-1/4 Cup - Milk
4 - Eggs
1 Cup - Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Butter
Fillings of Choice: Cinnamon and Sugar; Jams; Jellies, Fruit, etc.
Powdered Sugar (Optional)
Syrup (optional).

Directions:

Crack open the Eggs into a bowl.
Add Milk to eggs, beat well.
Mix Flour and Salt in a separate bowl.
Stir flour and salt mixture into the milk and eggs gradually, until smooth.
The batter will be thin.
Heat a heavy 8-inch to 10-inch skillet and grease lightly with butter or oil.
Pour only enough batter to make a very thin pancake. Tip the skillet from side to side and around to help spread the pancake batter as needed.
Cook on one side (without flipping) until the pancake begins to blister or bubble. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until a light golden color. Do not over cook. You do not want them to get hard or crispy. NOTE: Pancakes cook very quickly, pay attention.
Remove from skillet and place on a board.
Once you have several pancakes stacked on the board, you can begin filling one at a time.
Brush one side only with butter.
Add about 1 to 2 Tablespoon(s) of your desired filling: Cinnamon and Sugar; Jam; Jelly; Fruit; etc. to the buttered side.
Roll pancake from one edge all the way across to the other side.
Place rolled pancake (or two) on a plate and dust with Powdered Sugar

Notes

If you have two cooks, one can be cooking the pancakes while the other fills and rolls them. Kids love to help with these pancakes.

3.5.3226

Shop for Gold’n Soft products

You can feel good about serving your family Gold’n Soft. It is made with simple ingredients offering a great buttery taste with no cholesterol or hydrogenated oils, ZERO trans fats per serving, and is easily spreadable. It comes in convenient sizes — 15 ounces (great for smaller households) and 45-ounce packages. This great value gets even better with this 50¢ COUPON.

FIND a Store near you! We picked ours up from the refrigerated Fresh Dairy section at our local Smart & Final.

As you can tell, German Pancakes are still one of my all time favorite breakfasts. So much so that we sometimes have them for dinner. Who says pancakes are only for breakfast? LOL You can even fill these pancakes with savory items such as chicken, asparagus, and more. The sky is the limit.

If you are looking for more Recipe Inspiration click the Social Hub here.

Start a new family #breakfast tradition with German Pancakes! #CapturingTraditions AD

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I have other breakfast ideas for you as well, Perhaps you’d enjoy my Breakfast BLT – A Twist on a Favorite or Avocado Eggs Florentine Toast

Make German Pancakes with Gold’n Soft spreadable butter for your family and start a new tradition. #CapturingTraditions Enjoy!

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Magical Reindeer Food + Free Printable

There is just something magical about Christmas. Some of my favorite memories revolve around this holiday season and the love, joy, and excitement on the faces of my children. I am sharing one simple yet special Christmas tradition that your kids will love — Magical Reindeer Food.

Magical Reindeer Food

A Christmas Tradition Your Kids Will Love!

Christmas Eve is full of fun and excitement. Children laughing and playing, making sure their stocking are hung with care, and of course waiting with great anticipation the arrival of Santa Claus.

Why not give your kids something a little magical to occupy a moment of time before they go off to dream of sugarplums in their wee little beds. This simple project is easy to prepare and uses things you may already have in your home. Plus, I have a really cute printable for you to download.

Make Christmas magical for your kids with Reindeer Food! #Christmas #Activity #Kids

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How To Make Magical Reindeer Food

What You Need:

Dry Oatmeal
Glitter
Mylar Confetti (something sparkly)
Plastic Bag with a zipper closure – snack or sandwich size
Free Printable Bag Topper (see below)
Stapler

Directions:

Print the Bag Toppers and cut them out.
Mix Oatmeal , Glitter, and Confetti in a bowl.
Place handfuls of the mixture into the plastic bags.
Fold Bag Topper over the top of the closed bag and staple it in place.

Here is What You Do with the Magical Reindeer Food

On Christmas Eve, take you children out into the yard. Search the sky looking for Santa and his reindeer. Then, have them sprinkle the magical reindeer food on the ground. The glitter and confetti will sparkle in the moonlight. The shimmering light will lead the reindeer to your home.

This sweet little poem is on the printable bag topper:

Sprinkle on the lawn Christmas Eve night,
the moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa’s reindeer fly and roam,
magic feed leads them to your home.

Download the FREE Printable!

CLICK HERE to Download

These make great gifts for classmates, or it is even a fun craft / project idea for a school Christmas party.

The wonder of #Christmas. The joy of children. The Magical Reindeer Food! #ChristmasTradition

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Enjoy the smiles, awe, and wonder on your children’s faces.

Merry Christmas!

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~Lorelai

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Best Homemade Fudge Ever – Recipe

Regular Contributor, Deborah Ward, brings us her recipe for the Best Homemade Fudge.

The Best Homemade Fudge

A Traditional Christmas Food

I love homemade fudge! I love it so much that I only allow myself to make it once a year. The week of Christmas is special in our household. It’s the one week that we don’t worry about calories, sugar, fat, or any of those other “bad” things. My home is magically transformed into Mrs. Claus’s cozy kitchen. Dreams of chex mix, cookies, pie, rolls, and, of course, fudge dance through our heads.

I love all of the foods unique to this season that have become family traditions. My grandmother always made turkey soup and chex mix with bacon grease and Cayenne pepper. Both of these things my mother now makes to keep the tradition alive. My dad loves to make his grandmothers special recipe rolls and “tea cakes”, which are a hard, less sweet cookie. So delicious! He is always good for a Christmas wild-card. One year he made fruit cake using rum and bourbon. It was actually very yummy. And, my sister always makes her special peppermint cake. Since we won’t be spending Christmas together this year, I bet my husband will ask me to make that. He loves it!

Since moving to So Cal, we’ve learned about a holiday traditional. Tamales! I never would have guessed, but you won’t find me complaining. I love them so much!! One of my husband’s employees gave him a dozen homemade tamales for a Christmas gift. Yum!

I’ve played around with various fudge recipes, and even bought easy to make fudge kits at the store, but could never quite find a recipe that everyone loved. Hubs wants peanut butter, Tiny Dancer doesn’t want nuts, but I do. Finally, I found a recipe that I was able to tweak, and create the perfect, just right for us, homemade fudge.

Homemade Fudge

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
¼ tsp salt
2 cups mini-marshmallows
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract

How to:

Line an 8” square baking pan with foil.
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for approximately 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add in marshmallows, chips, and vanilla, and stir for 1 minute, or until everything is melted and combined.
Add mixture to foiled baking pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until solid.
Once firm. Remove from pan by lifting foil edges. Cut into one inch pieces.

Suggestions:

Add ½ cup of nuts.
Substitute other types of chips. (i.e. milk chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.)

Here’s a Printable Recipe just for you!

5 from 1 reviews

Best Homemade Fudge Ever - Recipe

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

2 hours

Total time

2 hours 15 mins

Best Homemade Chocolate Fudge - a Traditional Christmas Food

from: Life With Lorelai

Type: Candy

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons butter
¼ tsp salt
2 cups mini-marshmallows
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Line an 8” square baking pan with foil.
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for approximately 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add in marshmallows, chips, and vanilla, and stir for 1 minute, or until everything is melted and combined.
Add mixture to foiled baking pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until solid.
Once firm. Remove from pan by lifting foil edges. Cut into one inch pieces.

Notes

Suggestions:

Add ½ cup of nuts.

Substitute other types of chips. (i.e. milk chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.)

3.5.3208

I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas full of love, family, and all of your favorite traditional foods!

Visit Deborah at her blog, Kentucky to Cali!

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~Lorelai

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Cookie Party For Kids – A Christmas Tradition

Regular Contributor, Calvalyn Day, shares one of her cherished holiday traditions – A children’s cookie party.

Cookie Party For Kids

A Christmas Tradition

For the last 10 or so years, I have hosted a cookie party for my children. Over the years, its gone from my only child, Autumn, with my nephew, to include two, then three, then four girls. We’ve also started including more friends, and family. Occasionally, we even give some of our bounty to church or neighbors as gifts. Here’s part of the bounty a few years ago.

(Notice the shoe, I purposely left it here so you could see this is kind of how my cookie parties go.)
This year, at Thanksgiving, my kids started asking about our party again. What will they eat, what cookies will they make, and of course, how many friends can they invite? These are just a few of the questions that fill their heads and my ears.

In the beginning, it wasn’t as much of a production, but my kids are more social than me, and since Lauryn’s love language is quality time, there’s no way I’m getting out of this. Over time, I’ve gotten better about making it an enjoyable, and not stressful occasion, but a recent question in one of my Facebook mommy groups prompted this post.

How do you bake cookies with older kids when the toddler and 8 month old can’t sit still long enough to participate?

I wrote her a long reply, but I’ll sum it up in a few easy tips for you here.

First, drop your expectation for picture perfect. I tell moms all the time, perfect is for Pinterest, you cannot photoshop your life. This is about time with your children, making memories, and enjoying the moments that literally fly by in a blur. Expect things to go wrong. There will be a mess, and not everything you want to get done will actually get done. Then, you will be less likely to flip out on the kids when exactly those things happen.

Next, make it easy on yourself. I know you may long to have your children create, from scratch, your great grandmother’s homemade crinkles, but perhaps this year with twin 3-year-olds, that just isn’t in the cards. You can take the easy route, like I often do, and go with mixes or pre-prepped ingredients; or, completely make it easy with slice and bake. Another option is have one “hard recipe” and make filler cookies that are simple and fun to make, like good old Rice Krispie treats. Yes, we consider these cookies in my house. The point is, worrying about getting a complicated recipe just right can make you crazy, and that is especially true while you’re also trying to keep your teenager interested and your 8-month-old from dumping the flour bag.

Finally, don’t spend all of your time behind the camera. Sounds counter intuitive I know, but hear me out. I have some pictures of Christmas parties from the past, and as the kids get older and are more hands on, I have taken more and more, but most of my pictures are from before the party and after. I try and immerse myself in the fun of the moment and not waste too much time getting the perfect shot. If you’re having fun, you and your children will remember even without a ton of pictures. The pictures are important but being truly present is worth so much more.

As a bonus, I usually include an activity in our party for when all the cookies are baking or cooling. One year we decorated our fridge. It was a nice distraction and we kept it up even after we took down the tree. This year we have a black refrigerator, and I haven’t figured out how to make that into a Christmas theme yet. Other activities we have tried are making cards and painting ornaments. This can also help if the thrill of cookie dough loses its’ zest at some point during the evening.

If you bake cookies with your kids each year, or maybe this is the first time you’re diving in, let me know what’s on your menu for the year. I’m still planning for ours, and I’m totally game to adding something new to the list.

Visit Calvalyn at her blog, Indy Parent Coach!

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Sidewalk Chalk Tutorial

An Easter Tradition

It has been a long-standing tradition at our house for the Easter Bunny to leave a chalk drawing in the driveway. The kids would find this surprise first thing Easter morning, as we left for church. That silly bunny always manages to hop through the drawing leaving his colored footprints behind, as he hops up to the house and away again.

I hadn’t done a drawing in years; but last year, Luke’s two grandnieces where coming for Easter dinner. That meant our tradition had to be resurrected–and this time I was recruiting some help. So, after everything was ready inside the house, Rory and I put on our figurative bunny ears and hopped on out to the driveway–armed and dangerous with sidewalk chalk.

Sidewalk Chalk Tutorial – Learn HOW TO Create your own Art… #SidewalkChalk #ChalkArt #Holiday

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Here are the Steps to Creating Your Own Chalk Art:

Decide on your Design.
I found my inspiration for the drawing online…

Photo found at Gainsville Apartment & Condo Guide Blog

Draw the basic Outline for your Design.
You can see that I used white chalk to draw my outline. You can use a different color, but be sure that you will be able to blend it into your design. Try to keep the outline as light as possible.

Draw in the Details for the specific area in which you are working.

Color in the Design.
Use lighter and darker colors to create shadows and depth to your drawing. Mix colors to make new colors.

Take your Chalk work from Drawing to Art.
This step will transform your drawing into a work of art! It will also give it some real lasting power. Use water and paint brush to wet down the chalk. Paint over the chalk, filling in any missing areas created from the rough canvas. Be careful NOT to mix your colors, unless you intend to do so. This will create a painted type of artwork versus the rough and grainy look of a regular sidewalk chalk drawing. As you paint over the chalk with water, your colors will darken and change, do not worry, they will dry and be beautiful.

Notice how vibrant and solid the colors of the painted bunny look.

Here are Some Additional Tips:

Wear Disposable Gloves while you work. This will keep your hands cleaner, and not dry out your skin. They also change easily when they get dirty.

A Kneeling Pad is your best friend!

Have a Towel or Rag for leaning your hand on. This will help keep you from getting “road rash” from leaning heavily on the concrete.

Paper Towels will come in handy.

Use different cups of water for differing colors, so you don’t muddy the colors of your creation.

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A couple of sample photos will show you the different types of sidewalk chalk art.. Be sure to notice the color layering for depth and interest, as well as the rough and smooth textures. One sample is a regular chalk drawing, while the other has been water painted.

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I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial. Now, go have some fun creating Sidewalk Chalk Art.

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Have you ever created any Sidewalk Chalk Art?

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Did you paint your drawing with water?

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~Lorelai

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Christmas Music Playlist & Karaoke

Christmas Music is a tradition that I cherish! Whether it is a traditional carol, a crooners sentimental or jaunty tune, or something fresh and new, they had me at Christmas. I’ll admit it, I’m hooked.

Christmas Music

Playlist & Karaoke

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I absolutely LOVE Christmas Music! It plays throughout the holiday season in my house and car starting the day after Thanksgiving (sometimes even Thanksgiving night), and runs through New Year’s Eve.

Christmastime just wouldn’t be the same without the varying artists from past to present crooning through my decked halls. And of course, Rory and I singing along.

The music fo Christmas brings joy and happiness, but it also brings wonderful memories of Christmases past. Memories of my mother’s favorite Christmas Carol, “Bring A Torch Jeanette Isabella,” to mine and Luke’s special song, “Santa Baby,” to, “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.” I love every moment.

I have a Christmas Playlist that provides us hours of Christmasy entertainment. You will find songs from Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Burl Ives, Eartha Kitt, Brenda Lee, The Ronettes, Harry Belafonte, Kings College Choir, Wham, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, The Irish Rovers, and so, so many more… Luke and I have been together for three years today, so give a listen to Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt in the playlist for us. Happy Anniversary, honey!

Follow me on YouTube…

Christmas Music Playlist – hours of entertainment https://tinyurl.com/m96fmws #ChristmasMusic #Playlsit

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Please enjoy the Christmas music and have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Christmas Music Playlist:

If you like to sing, try these super fun Christmas Editions of Go Ahead… Sing Karaoke!

Christmas Karaoke:

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Sing Karaoke #6 – Christmas Edition

Sing Karaoke #7 – Christmas Edition 2

Sing Karaoke #8 – Christmas Carols Edition

Sing Christmas songs Karaoke style! https://tinyurl.com/m96fmws #ChristmasKaraoke #ChristmasMusic

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What is your favorite Christmas Song?

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~Lorelai

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Celebrating St. Nicholas Day – December 6th

St. Nicholas Day is a beautiful Christmas tradition that helps your family celebrate the season.

St. Nicholas Day

Celebrate December 6th

I am sure there isn’t a single one of you who doesn’t know who Santa Claus is, but have you ever heard of St. Nicholas Day?

My mother was a first generation American. Her relatives all live in Bavaria, the southeast state of Germany best known for the Alps, the Bavarian Forest, Oktoberfest, Lederhosen, the Rhine River, bratwurst, beer, and fairy-tale castles. My grandparents held on to some of the traditions of their native land to keep the heritage alive, one such tradition was St. Nicholas Day.

St. Nicholas Day is December 6th of every year. The tradition stems from a 4th century bishop who became the protector of children and sailors. It is said that he did kind deeds and secretly helped those in need by putting coins and gifts into their shoes. Over the centuries, the tradition led children to polish their shoes or boots and leave them outside the door, in a window sill, or on the hearth. Children would leave carrots or hay in their boots for St. Nicholas’ horse or donkey, and if you were good, and kind, and said your prayers, St. Nicholas would come in the night and fill your shoes with goodies.

Does this sound like Christmas Stockings hung by the chimney with care, or leaving milk and cookies for Santa? It is easy to see that the legends of Santa Claus and Father Christmas derive from St. Nicholas.

Around our home, St. Nicholas Day always brought oranges or tangerines, nuts, and a small gift from St. Nicholas. And each year on Christmas morning, our stockings held chocolate gold coins.

For my kids, The tradition was much the same, but they had two Advent calendars–one, a traditional German Advent calendar like these…

and the other, a fabric calender with pocket bags that tied shut. On St. Nicholas Day, instead of a coin or piece of candy in the pocket, they would find a note. Well, more precisely a riddle that was a clue. Solving the riddle would lead them around the house on a scavenger hunt, until they arrived at the little gift left by St. Nicholas. They too get chocolate coins in their stockings on Christmas morning.

At some point during the day, whether it was after school or before bedtime, I would read them stories about St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas Day is a fun, low-key celebration in the beginning of Advent that reminds children to be kind, and good, and thoughtful–just another wonderful way to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ child.

Want some other ideas for celebrating? Check out my St. Nicholas Day Pinterest Board.

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Will you celebrate St. Nicholas Day?

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What special traditions of heritage do you celebrate?

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