Funnel Cake

My beautiful daughter is going through a strange, inconvenient and often annoying phase. She won't eat anything unless it looks like a shape she can identify. Somethings I can get away with, "See! It's like a bouncy ball!" as I hold up an orange. Other's I have to create. Cookie cutters have been my saving grace.

With Valentine's right around the corner, a heart was the most logical route to go. I don't think I would have gotten away with "Look Morgan! It looks like the large intestines string!"

Now I'm not going to let you try this without me telling you the truth. I'm not going to pretend to be the whiz in the kitchen that many of you think I may be. The reason why funnel cakes are normally drizzled in a circle is because the batter has a mind of it's own once it hits the oil. That's a given though, pouring a thicker liquid into a thinner, it's going to float around. You just have to play with it. Try to shape the heart quickly, then swirl inside.

Funnel Cake
1 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1 cup milk
vegetable oil- enough to cover the bottom of the pan, an inch deep

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the egg and milk. I then added a touch of red food coloring.

Pour the batter into a squeeze bottle. Make sure all the lumps are out so it won't clog. If you don't have a squeeze bottle you can pour a ladle full into a funnel with your finger stopping the end.

Heat oil on medium high heat. Oil will be ready when you splash water onto it and starts to sizzle. Squeeze out a heart into the oil then swirl to fill in the heart. If it mis-shapes just add more around the outside to reshape it. As long as you are pouring it close enough and partly on top of what you had already squeezed out, then it will stick together.

Flip it after about a minute, then a minute on the other side. Drain on a paper towel. Generously add powdered sugar and any other toppings of your desire.

This is actually a breakfast at our house every now and then. Just to shake things up a bit.

Imagine getting served breakfast in bed with this treat!