"Batter Blaster" - What?!!  Pancake Batter in a Spray-On, Aerosol-Type Can

I was shopping for eggs at Harris Teeter when I noticed on the refrigerator shelf cans of a strange product called "Batter Blaster," and had to take a closer look.  Apparently this is some sort of spray-on pancake batter in an aerosol-type-can.  ARGH!  First there was artificial-orange-cheese-product-whiz in some sort of spray-on-aerosol-type-can (yuck!); now we can also spray pancake batter out of a can.  Whatever happened to the simple joy of cracking a few eggs and mixing up some pancake batter?  It only takes a few minutes to make pancake batter from scratch; and it's fun for kids to help.

My father used to make amazing, edible works of pancake art by pouring the batter artfully into shapes.  We particularly loved the Winnie-the-Pooh figures he would make.  The pancake batter recipe we used was in a children's Winnie-the-Pooh cookbook called The Pooh Cook Book (shown below).

Growing up I always thought the cookbook had step-by-step instructions for making Winnie-the-Pooh shapes with the batter (just look at the book cover featuring Pooh himself flipping a pancake).  As an adult, I came across our original, well-worn, well-loved copy of The Pooh Cook Book and found that there is no mention about making Winnie-the-Pooh shapes with the pancake batter at all.  I should have known that the idea was my dad's.  

My father was a brilliant artist and sculptor; his sketches remind me of the Italian masters.  It seemed that he could create anything out of nothing.  As one of my childhood friends put it, he made everything magical.  A few days ago we took our children to see my father's welded steel, life-size "Don Quixote" sculpture located two blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C. (in the courtyard at 1776 G Street, between F and G streets and 17th and 18th streets.)  (You can see a few photos of Miles Stafford Rolph II (Jarbo's) Don Quixote sculpture at www.jarbo.org.)

Sculptor Miles Stafford II (Jarbo) Rolph's 
"Don Quixote" welded steel sculpture

Here is a description of my father's "Don Quixote" sculpture from the book, Off the Beaten Path Washington, DC by William B. Whitman:

"Two blocks west of the White House, Don Quixote cuts an extraordinary figure in Miles Rolph's tour de force of welded steel.  Note how the Don's horse, Rosinante, snarls in anger as her master prepares for another hopeless foray.  1776 G Street, courtyard between F and G and 17th and 18th Streets."

 

I wish I had a photograph of those lovely, amazing Winnie-the-Pooh pancakes he used to make for us.  I am pretty sure it is not possible to make lovely pancakes with Spray-on-Batter-Blaster-in-an-Aerosol-Type-Can.

But wait!  I forgot the best part about the Batter Blaster!  I went back to take a second look at the Batter Blaster during that grocery shopping trip, and then noticed that this is not just any Batter Blaster: NO.  This is ORGANIC Batter Blaster.  USDA-approved ORGANIC Batter Blaster.  Wow.  This is pretty much the opposite of anything I have ever envisioned as being "organic."

I'll stick to pancakes made from scratch!  Just pour out a nice round circle for Winnie-the-Pooh's belly, then quickly add on another round-ish circle/oval adjoining for his head, then two little circles at either side for the ears, four more little circles for arms and legs.  It's lots of fun to see what you can come up with making edible pancake art.  And it's especially fun to make things magical for your kids.  Pancakes; sculptures; create beauty!  Just not food-product out of a spray-on can.

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