Pancake Sausage Bites

Good Monday Morning!

Did you have a great weekend? I hope so! I hope it was filled with love and laughter, peace and joy. :) Maybe friends and/or family, or some coveted alone time.

Anyway! Today's share isn't so much a recipe as it is a method. These are pancake & sausage bites, brought to you by Gwaltney's website.

Now, let me tell you about the ones here to the right side of your screen, then I'll fill you in on what I did. I'm not going to rate these, because once you've got the idea the end result's up to YOU! :D

Mom was looking for something to take to their Sunday school class; every fifth Sunday of the month, they have a pitch-in breakfast. We batted ideas back and forth, and then I remembered that I'd Pinned this idea onto my breakfast board to try. So we talked about it, and she decided to do them. She made mini muffins, and used pancake mix and turkey sausage crumbles. When I asked her how they'd gone over, she told me that she thought people had mostly used them as an excuse to eat the homemade jam she took to top them with. And I had to agree: they needed something. I'd tasted one before they left the house, and while they tasted like pancakes and sausage, they weren't FLAVORFUL.

So I thought about it. :D

I made these last week. And here's what I did.

First, I cooked my sausage a few days before I made these; I wanted it to be the same temperature as the batter, and I knew I could probably end up freezing some of the crumbles for later use. (Which I did.) Drained it onto paper towels, where it sat until it was completely cooled. I stored it in a zippered baggie in the fridge until I made these.

Next, the pancake mix I used is a "just add water!" type. Instead of only water, I replaced part of the liquid with sugar-free maple syrup, then baked them off.

The flavor was BETTER, but still not strong. So I made some maple butter; Kenn likes Mrs. Buttersworth, so I mixed about a quarter cup of it with about the same amount of softened butter. If I was going to make this again, I'd double the ingredients, make it in my mixer so it completely incorporated, and roll it and chill it again for presentation's sake. :D But it was GOOD butter. :D

I'll probably make these again. Kenn liked them. I had them for breakfast several times last week; they reheated in the microwave very well, and the butter obviously stored well in the fridge! :)

Let me know if you experiment with them, too. If I had kids, this would be something I'd make and maybe freeze a big batch of; they'd be simple out-the-door breakfasts for those crazy school days, and I've never met a kid who didn't like pancakes and sausage, OR eating with their hands! :D (This could easily be made vegetarian, too!)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day!!! Try something new! :D