Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes

Recently, my pal Olga at Mango Tomato tweeted about a pancake recipe she was making. It just so happened I was in a mood for breakfast for dinner that day, but couldn't decide between biscuit egg sandwiches or pancakes. Olga paired her pancakes with boozy fruit, but I decided to go with a different spin. To clear my freezer and also to avoid my general dislike for too much sweetness in breakfast, I served my pancakes plain. The melted chocolate within the delicate pancake was all I needed for a touch of decadence. This is my new favorite pancake recipe and I can't wait to try it again with a different combination. I'm thinking a strawberry sauce could be my next plan of action.


One year ago: Farro with Garlicky Braised Kale and Prosciutto
Two years ago: Healthy Black Bean Dip
Three years ago: Spicy Black Bean Cakes


Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Pancakes
(Adapted from Joy of Baking)

Makes 4 servings

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 large egg. lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk at room temperature
3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Extra melted butter or cooking spray for cooking

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and 3 tablespoons melted butter.

Create a well in the flour mixture, stir in the liquid mixture and stir to combine. Mix lightly. It is okay if some lumps remain. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Heat some butter or cooking spray in a nonstick pan or griddle over medium high heat. Use a 1/3 cup measure to spoon out the mixture on to the cooking surface. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until small bubbles appear on the surface. Flip the pancakes and cook for another minute or two until the pancakes are lightly browned. Serve warm topped with powdered sugar or maple syrup if desired.

Printable Recipe

Ricotta Pancakes with Meyer Lemon Curd

I'm not really big on pancakes for breakfast, but once in a while I get a random craving for them. I haven't made pancakes in an extremely long time because I haven't owned a nonstick pan or a griddle for nearly a year...but now I am in possession of a cute little nonstick pan that I will tell you about later and I want to make all kinds of pancakes! I had some ricotta leftover from another recipe and everything else needed to make a small stack. I was also happy to use some of my Meyer lemon curd that I have been really stingy about using this year. The pancakes came out great! Really light and fluffy in texture with the mild ricotta taste that paired well with the sweet and tart lemon curd. The only thing that could have made these pancakes better were some spring berries, but I made them on Saturday before I went to the farmers market on Sunday. Oh well, guess I will just have to make them again!





Ricotta Pancakes with Lemon Curd
(Adapted from The Kitchn)



Makes about 6 small pancakes

1/2 cup ricotta cheese
6 tablespoons milk
2 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
Pinch salt
Meyer lemon curd
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Drain the ricotta in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or paper towels, for about 30 minutes. Squeeze off any excess liquid.

In a large bowl, mix the drained ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla and whisk until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the ricotta mixture and stir gently to combine.

In a medium bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the egg white to stiff peaks. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Use a 1/3 cup measure to pour batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes for about 3 minutes per side until golden brown.

Serve the pancakes with lemon curd spread between and topped with powdered sugar.

Printable Recipe

Honey Pancakes with Greek Yogurt and Pistachios

Lucky Heather got a snow day last week and used her time off to make these amazing sounding Honey Pistachio Pancakes. I haven't had a snow day since I was 11, but I wanted to make the pancakes too. I originally wanted to make these over the weekend, but found myself having them for dinner the other night instead. I had to change a couple of things. I used part whole wheat flour and since I didn't have any pistachio extract around, I used vanilla. I have a rather large container of honey and went a little heavy handed with it so the honey taste was very pronounced in both the pancakes and yogurt topping, but since I love honey, I didn't mind. I loved the sweet pancakes with the sweet and tart yogurt topping. I definitely need to practice my pancake flipping skills. Mine came out a little thin, but they were fun to make and even better to eat!

Honey Pancakes with Greek Yogurt and Pistachios
(Adapted from Diary of a Fanatic Foodie)

Pancakes:
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon honey
Splash of vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
4-5 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon raw unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped

To make the pancakes:
In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until well combined.

Cook the pancakes over medium heat. Flip when the sides become firm, and the pancake has an even distribution of air bubbles throughout the batter.

To make he topping:
Whisk together the yogurt and honey.

Top pancakes with the yogurt mixture and sprinkle with pistachios.

Big Apple Pancakes

I was going to wait and do this recipe next week, but after a completely stupid day yesterday, I was in the mood for a glass of wine and something sweet. I'm so happy it's Friday, but wish it was the end of the day instead of the beginning. I'm glad I had this recipe to sweeten my night. This was really easy and surprisingly quick! I made a couple of changes to lighten it up. I used half whole wheat flour and nonfat milk. I used an 8-inch pan to make this and besides cutting one wedge out (for presentation purposes), I ate this straight outta the pan. What? It's just me! This didn't puff up as much as I thought it would. Maybe because of my modifications, but it was so yummy. I found the final product a tad too greasy, so next time I will use less butter. However, the top was nice and a little crunch with brown sugar and the apples were cinnamony and not too sweet. Don't you love having breakfast for dinner?


I have some serious baking and cooking planned for the next couple of days, none of it having to do with Thanksgiving so I hope you will be back to see what I have been up to. In the meantime, I just wanted to let you know that my feed issues seem to be fixed so those that were having problems with it before...well, I hope you're not having those problems anymore. Also, I got an award!! A little while ago Debbie at Mocha Me gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. Then, a couple of days ago, Reeni at Cinnamon Spice & Everything nice gave me the Super Scribbler Award. Coincidentally, Reeni's site is where I found this recipe.

I've never been one to follow rules, but there are some for the Super Scribbler, which I will sort of follow:

The Rules:
1. Post the award on your blog
2. Link to me for giving it to you
3. Link the originating post here
4. Pass it on to five deserving people
5. Post these rules for your recipients


Here's who I am giving it to (in no particular order):

Miss Marie
Eating Club Vancouver
Culinary Adventures of a New Wife
Mango & Tomato

Haha!!! I rebelled. I'm only doing four.

And the Kreativ Blogger goes to:

The Food Librarian



Feel free to pass these along however you wish! Have a wonderful Friday and check out this adorable video featuring my favorite artist Adele. I just got tickets to her show in January. So excited to see her perform again.

Big Apple Pancakes
(Adapted from Food Network)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
Pinch salt
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
Ground cinnamon
1 or 2 lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large ovenproof skillet (preferably with curved sides), melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat. Add the apple slices and cook, stirring, until tender, about 10 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoons of the brown sugar and a dash or two of cinnamon and stir to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, salt, milk, and flour. Pour this batter over the apples in the skillet, transfer to the oven, and bake until puffy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix a few dashes of cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cut the remaining tablespoon of butter into pieces. When the pancake puffs, remove from the oven, dot with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and return to the oven to bake until browned, about 10 minutes more. As the pancake comes out of the oven, squeeze the lemon lightly over the top. Serve in wedges right out of the pan

Vanilla Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

Ok - something weird the happened the other night. I was preparing my posts for the weekend and looking through my fridge I realized I had an extra pint of heaving whipping cream from when I made cupcakes. I didn't know what to do with it, but immediately I thought of the fact that I am so not a fan of whipped cream. I don't know why, but I have never liked it. The stuff from the store in the plastic container or can grosses me out and I usually asks for desserts not to be included with it if I am dining out. Then I thought, maybe I should make my own and see if it is just a psychological thing. I found a simple recipe for a sweet whipped cream and got to working. It came together simply enough, but I decided that even with one of my favorite ingredients (cinnamon), I just don't like whipped cream. So then I thought "what would happen if I keep whipping this cream?". So I did. I kept whipping and texting my friend to tell her the results. I thought I was making a whipped icing, but then the mixture started to release all this liquid and the solids started to curdle. I quickly ran to my laptop and started typing in searches for "what happens if you mix cream for too long?". Of course The Kitchn came to my rescue with a recipe for homemade butter that of course was so easy, I decide to stop panicking and think about putting my concoction to good use. My friend (that I was still texting with updates the entire time) said I should make cinnamon rolls, but come on....I am just getting over my baking intimidation. I think I need to take baby steps. I settled on buttermilk pancakes.

Vanilla Cinnamon Butter
(Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis and The Kitchn)
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 or 2 dashes of cinnamon

Pour cream into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on a low or medium speed until soft peaks are formed. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until mixture becomes thick and clotted and the liquid separates from the solids. Place mixture into a strainer lined with paper towels over a bowl. Refrigerate the liquid as this is buttermilk and will last for a few days in the refrigerator.

Run the solid mixture through an ice bath several times and drain in a paper towel. Turn into a small bowl and refrigerate for up to one week.


Vanilla Cinnamon Buttermilk Pankcakes
(Adapted from Food Network)

Makes 3 pancakes (and 1 test pancake)

1/2 c vanilla cinnamon buttermilk
1/2 c milk
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
cooking spray

Mix all ingredients well in a small mixing bowl. Pour by spoonfuls onto a sprayed, hot, non-stick pan. Cook until batter is bubbly. Turn over. Wipe pan clean between pancakes. Serve immediately with cinnamon vanilla butter and syrup or fruit.