This year Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is on the 16 February. It’s time to enjoy some pancakes!
Pancake Recipe
(From the Be-Ro Home Baked Recipe Book – details at the end of the post). This is the recipe I use at home. Our family likes to eat these with lemon juice and sugar (that’s me), sugar (my son) and jam (my husband)
Ingredients
110g (4oz) Plain Flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml (1/4 pint) milk
Vegetable oil for frying
Method
Mix flour and salt together in a bowl and make a hollow in the centre and add the egg
Whisk the egg into the flour and slowly add the milk, still whisking until the batter is smooth
Lightly oil a frying pan and heat until hot (be careful if making with children. An adult needs to be in charge here!)
Pour in enough batter to cover the pan
Cook for 1-2 minutes on a medium heat until underside is golden brown
Turn or flip the pancake over and cook for a further half a minute (but keep an eye on it as it may do faster)
Enjoy with a topping of your choice!
To make several pancakes just add some more oil each time so the batter doesn’t stick.
It is winter where I live but there are still leaves to be found and a few conkers, acorns and winter flowers. These were collected from my garden and arranged into a heart shape.
If you like, you can draw a heart outline and then arrange any leaves, twigs or flowers that you find.
If it’s too snowy (or just too cold!) to find objects outdoors look in your home. I’ve used cotton and fruit! You might like to use toys, building blocks, crayons – anything you like. Your heart shape can be really small or huge. It’s up to you. You can choose random objects or select items of one colour .. lots of variations. Take a photo before you put everything away.
To tell the story you need – some Wise Men, toy camels and a star. You can add some actions too – stars with hands (like in twinkle, twinkle little star), running, looking, kneeling.
The story
Bible Truth for Toddlers – Jesus is King
Far away from where Jesus was born there were some Wise Men. They read books and knew a lot. They loved to look at the stars in the dark night’s sky. One night they saw a new star! They looked at the new star and they looked at each other. ‘Wow! they thought, ‘this new star means that a new king has been born in Israel. Let’s go and worship him’.
So they packed their things and set off for the important city of Jerusalem. They travelled for a long time. It took days and days to get there. When they arrived in Jerusalem they asked everyone they met, ‘Where is the new baby king?’
Now, there was a king in Jerusalem called King Herod but he wasn’t a baby; he was a grown up and he wasn’t at all happy. He didn’t want a new King! He heard that there were men from a far away place who were asking people, ‘Where is the new king?’ This upset him and it upset the people who were living in Jerusalem. He sent for the men from the temple. ‘Where is this new King to be born?’ he asked. The men from the temple knew the answer because it was written in the Bible. ‘In Bethlehem.’ they said.
Herod sent for the Wise Men and he told them to go to Bethlehem and find this new King and then come back and tell him where the new King was so he could go and worship him too.
So off the Wise Men went. It wasn’t too far to go now. As they got nearer something very special happened. The star was there again and this time it went before them and shone right over the house where Jesus was. The Wise men had found Jesus and they knelt down and worshiped him. They took their treasures out of their bags and gave them to Jesus. They gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were special gifts for a King.
The Wise Men never told Herod where Jesus was. God warned them not to in a dream and they travelled home.
Herod didn’t want to worship Jesus. He wanted to get rid of him. An angel told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and run away to a different country till it was safe to go back home.
Joseph did what the angel said and took Mary and Jesus to somewhere safe far away from Herod. When the danger was past they went to back home to Nazareth.
Some star craft ideas
For a star craft – decorate a star wreath shape and add some tissue paper for a stained glass window effect. Or use Christmas card pictures to decoarate a star.
Cream butter and sugar together and then gradually add the flour. Knead till smooth. I made this in my mixer but it is easily done by hand.
Chill the biscuit dough for at least an hour. If you miss this it will be very difficult to roll out and cut into biscuit shapes.
Once chilled roll out on a floured surface. Cut into shapes. I used a christmas tree shaped cutter. Bake at 150C /300F /Gas 2 for about 25 minutes (less if you have a fan oven. Check often anyway). They should be lightly browned. I have a gas oven that has a mind of it’s own so please don’t take my timings as exact!
Once cooked allow to cool and then decorate using icing (icing sugar and water mixed- add water little by little). I added green colouring jell. Decorate any way you like. And enjoy!
