I have been having so much fun experimenting with the activated charcoal powder that I used to make our Black Spider Bread Bowl that I decided to throw some into pancake batter and see how it worked there as well. Despite their charred appearance, these coal black pancakes are deliciously fluffy and moist! So forget about Count Chocula or Boo Berry cereal for your Halloween breakfast this year and make short stacks of orange, black, and white pancakes instead! Serving them with plastic spiders or skeleton hands is optional but makes for an extra creepy effect. We have so much fun celebrating Halloween all month long and don’t just reserve the fun & freaky foods for the 31st. Some of our other easy Halloween recipes are Mummy Dogs, Halloween Sugar Cookie Bars, and these Healthy Halloween Snacks!
Ingredient Notes
How to Make This Recipe
Start by making your buttermilk substitute by combining the vinegar and milk in a large measuring cup or bowl and letting them sit for 5 minutes. While they sit, whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. You will make one large batch of pancake batter, then divide it into thirds to create the different colors. Add the curdled milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and stir just until they are combined. It’s okay if there are still lumps in the batter. For the lightest, fluffiest pancakes, you never want to overmix the batter or work it too hard. Divide the batter evenly between 3 bowls (it’s okay to just eyeball it) and dye one of the bowls orange using some orange gel food dye. It won’t take a whole lot of dye to get that nice orange color. In another bowl of batter, add the activated charcoal powder and gently whisk or stir until combined. You will see it colors the batter beautifully and you can achieve a nice, dark black color without using tons of food dye that tends to stain teeth. On a hot griddle or buttered frying pan, cook the pancakes until bubbles start to appear on their tops, then flip to cook on the other side. I tend to keep these small using only about ¼ to ⅓ cup of batter per pancake so I can build tall stacks on the plates. It doesn’t take long for the pancakes to cook through on the second side. Serve the pancakes while they are still warm with butter and syrup or your favorite pancake toppings. To make the edible blood, you can either just add red food coloring (affiliate link) to regular maple syrup or use strawberry syrup or some strawberry or raspberry jam that has been warmed up and thinned out a little bit of apple juice or water, if needed. If it’s not red enough, just add a couple extra drops of red food coloring (affiliate link). The strawberry syrup approach is my personal favorite.
Recipe Tips
Make smaller pancakes so you can stack them up to show off the different Halloween colors. Serve them with two fried eggs and slices of bacon arranged on a plate to look like two eyes and cross bones! Pancakes freeze great so go ahead and double the batch! We usually just pop them in the toaster straight from the freezer to warm them up before eating the leftovers.
More Halloween Recipes
Layered Halloween Jello Monster Mix Ghost Meringues Chocolate Covered Halloween Pretzels
Homemade Caramel Apples
Dark Chocolate Halloween Chip Cookies
Chocolate Cut Out Sugar Cookies
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
