How to Make Curious George’s Blueberry Pancakes

On our mission to find the best pancakes, we’ve tested recipes from several children’s books. The blueberry pancakes from “Curious George Makes Pancakes” by Margret and H. A. Rey were not our favorite, but our family loves the book, and the blueberry smile was a hit!

About the Book

“George was a good little monkey, and always very curious.”

This infamous phrase begins many a tale about this curious monkey. In this story, George’s curiosity turns into delicious pancakes. As he watches pancakes being made on a griddle for a children’s hospital fundraiser, he reaches in and adds blueberries to the cooking pancakes. When the chef leaves the griddle to get help, George jumps in. He makes pancakes fast and they turn into the best pancakes the fundraiser has ever seen. Most pancakes come off the griddle with a blueberry face smiling at the customer. Cute and witty in normal Curious George fashion, this is a fun story to add to any collection.

The Pancakes

Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the Curious George blueberry pancakes recipe. The pancakes turned out very dense with less flavor than other recipes we tested. We needed lots of butter on the pan to give them more flavor (other recipes called for melted butter or oil in the batter, as well as more milk and/or eggs.). Maybe I did something wrong? With so many other pancake recipes out there, we didn’t bother making them again.

On the plus side, my son loved having the blueberry smiley face like Curious George! He’s asked for blueberry smiles several times since testing this pancake recipe. 🙂

I’m sharing the recipe if you want to give it a go (let me know if yours turn out delicious, and I’ll test it again!). My recommendation is to use a different recipe, involve your kids in making it, have fun making faces with blueberries, chocolate chips, whipped cream, etc, and read the book before or after the pancake fun! I’ve taught my kids from a young age to crack eggs, carefully pour and mix, and they’ve been very interested lately in helping pour out and flip the pancakes in the pan. Maybe in a few years, I’ll be served a hot pancake without stepping foot in the kitchen!

Ingredients

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Salt- I love Redmond’s Real Salt.
• Sugar
• Milk
• Eggs
• Unsalted Butter (in pan)

Process: How to Make Curious George’s Blueberry Pancakes

Mix the Egg and Milk in a large bowl and slowly add the dry ingredients. I like to mix the liquids in a large measuring cup, stir together the dry ingredients in a bowl, then carefully mix them together.

Heat the griddle or pan, and add butter or oil to it. Lots of butter in my opinion!

Pour batter on the griddle until the pancake is the desired size. Drop blueberries into the shape of a smiley face like Curious George (chocolate chips are yummy too!). Fresh blueberries work best; if using frozen blueberries, make sure the batter is cooked around the blueberry before removing pancakes from the pan. Check out the Animal Pancakes post for fun face ideas too!

Flip once to finish cooking when surface begins to bubble. Cook until golden brown.

Serve with syrup like Curious George! The book also has some fun ideas for topping your pancake, like using whipped cream to make hair or a beard.

Enjoy!

Q & A

• Can ingredients be substituted? Yes, though many substitutions will change the texture of the pancakes. Whole wheat flour, honey or maple syrup instead of sugar, buttermilk would be great, etc.
• Can I use frozen blueberries for the face? Fresh blueberries work best; if using frozen blueberries, make sure the batter is cooked around the blueberry before removing pancakes from the pan. Nothing is worse than biting into a delicious looking pancake only to find raw batter around the berries…
• What pancakes recipes would you recommend instead of this one? Animal Pancakes and Sourdough Discard Pancakes are our current favorites. Search “pancakes” for other variations or breakfast ideas.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed and sunshiny day 🙂