Teddy Bear Pancakes for a Teddy Bear Picnic

July 10th is National Teddy Bear Picnic Day.  Now, don't confuse this day with Teddy Bear Day - that's September 9th.  

Teddy Bears, in case you didn't know, were named after our 26th president,  Theodore Roosevelt (nicknamed Teddy, but according to wikipedia he loathed being referred to by such.)

Anyway, my mom's group decided we were going to have a Teddy Bear Picnic for the kiddos.  Some other moms were making bear themed foods for the picnic, so I decided to do the same.  I didn't want to go with a sugary item, so I decided to make pancakes shaped like bear heads!

First, you'll want to make two batches of pancake batter.

1/2 recipe of Bisquick supreme (see the back of the box)

and 1/2 recipe hot chocolate  (see recipe here) this is a glorified Bisquick recipe.

If you are anti-Bisquick, you could probably alter your favorite pancake recipe with some chocolate milk and cocoa powder accordingly.  Personally, Bisquick pancakes are my favorite, so I use what I know!

you could do full recipes, but you'll be making bear heads forEVER!

You'll want to put each batch in a squeeze container.  I used one for making chocolate, but a condiment one would do fine.  And I could only find one of my chocolate squeeze containers, and it worked out ok, you can see some of my bear heads are not really round as a result.

1.  Squeeze out white batter for muzzle area (I did all 4 at once).

2. Flip white muzzle (do these one at a time)

3.  blob chocolate over muzzle trying to keep round shape while getting full coverage (I used a spoon for this part, but the squeeze bottle would have been better here!)  If you wait too long, the muzzle starts to get overcooked (browned) and blends in with the chocolate head)

4. add ears with white.

5. Let cook a minute or so and flip.  Finish cooking.

I did the whole batch (including trial and error) in about 25 minutes.  Didn't take too much longer than making regular pancakes once I figured out the order!

You could also change it up and do chocolate muzzle/ears and a white face.  I was working with only one squeeze bottle...

Now you'll need to add a face.  I used white chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips.  You could also use the sugar eyes found in most baking sections (I've seen them at Hobby Lobby and Wal-mart for ~$4 for 12 pairs)

Insert white chips pointy side into the pancake.  If your cakes are still hot, your chop may melt enough for the next step.  If not, microwave your cakes with chips inserted for 10 seconds - this will soften them up enough to get the mini chip in.  Now stick your mini chocolate chip up-side down on the white chip.  This part could be difficult if you have unsteady hands.  I work with beads and threading needles, so I had no problems.  

Eyes, done.

I drew little bear faces with melted chocolate and a paint brush.  I'm not a fan of that method.  Use frosting and a decorator bag with tip, or find another way.  The chocolate painting was TEDIOUS.  The most tedious of the whole thing.

 Not the best pictures in the world, but there's no natural light at 11 o'clock at night!

As you can see, this made 13 bear heads.  I probably ate 4 mistakes.  And made a bunch of plain ones.  I would say one full recipe makes 20 heads?

Let me know if you try these!  The kiddos loved them.  No need for syrup or even heating them up.  We ate them just the way they were!!