Heart-shaped pancakes

In order to celebrate Valentine's Day early, I thought it would be fun to make heart shaped pancakes for the three girls (and woman) in my family. I used to have a great pancake sized heart cutout, but it got misplaced during our last move. I did manage to find two mini-sized heart cookie cutters. It made for some tiny pancakes, reminiscent of the "silver-dollar" pancakes I used to eat when I was little. In making these pancakes, I used my pumpkin pancake recipe and sprinkled them with chocolate chips, chocolate syrup and powdered sugar, which I told my 3 year old daughter was "magical valentine's sugar". Not that she needed to be enticed, she ate 3 mini-hearts and 3 full-sized pancakes and then asked for more, and this from a picky eater! I've gotten out-of the habit of always serving my pancakes with maple syrup. Lately I've been serving them with butter, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, a combination that blends really well with the pumpkin. The trick to making pancakes with a cookie-cutter, is to fill it to just under half way up, so that when it rises it just about meets the top of the mold, also I sprayed the inside of the mold with Pam so it releases easily.

Happy Valentines day!