Ma’s Pancake Men {from The Little House in the Big Woods}

We have just started reading the Little House Series. The first book in this series is the Little House in the Big Woods. While reading this book, we are doing little activities to go with the story. When we got to the part in this book about Ma making pancake men for breakfast, our boys were eager to have a go at this.

Ma’s Pancake Men

We have pancakes for breakfast quite a bit, so we just made our normal pancake mix (you can find that here) and shaped the pancakes into the shape of a human. We placed our batter into a squeeze tube so that it would be easier to squeeze out in the shape of a human. Though, if you don’t have a squeeze tube, you could always spoon the batter into the hot frying pan.

First, we made for the body, then we, very quickly, added the head, arms and legs, just like Ma did in the book. These didn’t end up looking the best, so we cheated a little and used a gingerbread man cookie cutter, placing it in the hot fry pan, spraying it with a little oil and then adding the batter. 

Then we flipped over the men, pancake batter and cookie cutter, before removing the cutter and cooking the pancakes, removing when they were done.

We drizzled our pancakes with maple syrup and butter. These pancake men would also go well on this pancake board!

More Little House Activities

• Little House in the Big Woods Resources
• Hasty Pudding
• Make a Clove Apple like Ma
• Felt Needle Book
• Little House on the Prairie Literature Study
• Little House in the Big Woods Literature Study
• Farmer Boy Resources
• Almanzo’s Mom’s Doughnuts

Homemade Instant Pancake Mix

This homemade instant pancake mix is easy to make and can be stored in an airtight container at home or in ziplock bags when travelling.

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Ingredients

  

• 6 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1 1/3 cups dry milk powder
• 2 TBSP baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsps salt
• 1/3 cup caster sugar

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl, add flour and milk powder.
• Stir well to combine.
• Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Mix well, making sure it is all combine.
• Finally add the sugar and mix well.
• Store this mixture in an airtight container.

To make pancakes

• 2 cups of pancake mix (the mix you have stored in the airtight container)
• 1 egg
• 2 TBSP oil
• 1 cup water
• Whisk the egg, oil and water together and then add to the dry mix.
• Stir until well combined.
• Heat some oil in a fry pan and fry pancakes until golden brown.

To make waffles

• 2 cups pancake mix (the mix you have stored in the airtight container)
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBSP oil
• 1 1/4 cups cold water
• Whisk the eggs, oil and water together and then add to the dry mix.
• Stir until well combined.
• Heat and grease a waffle iron and cook until golden brown.

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