Cookies n' Cream Pancakes

Let me just start by saying that I hate chocolate chip pancakes.  And I do mean HATE them.  I think they are nasty.  The chocolate always gets burned (because of the high heat that it comes in contact with while the pancakes are being cooked) and dried out, and basically ruins the rest of the pancakes.  My kids love them, but there's no accounting for taste there. ;)

I came up with this recipe as a result of a mistake, funny enough.  I was making a Chocolate Truffle Torte for Maria's birthday last week, and I scorched the chocolate while making the Chocolate Truffle topping (whoops.).  I couldn't bring myself to throw it away - it was 2 cups of chocolate, after all.  I remade the topping, put the scorched chocolate into a container (with no clue as to how I would use it later on) and forgot about it. 

This morning, Maria asked for chocolate chip pancakes, and I came up with a genius idea - why not use the scorched chocolate, chop it up finely (it actually kind of crumbled, on account of being scorched), and see if it works better than chocolate chips? 

It did. :)

 

Here they are on the griddle - they looked like cookies n cream ice cream to me, and I was already pretty sure that they were going to be awesome, just by the way they looked.  

 And here they are all cooked up.  I'm not sure the picture does them justice - I hope they don't come off looking like a pancake filled with dirt.

 Those are chocolate speckles that you see there.  Oh, these babies are soooo yummy.

 Of course you do NOT put maple syrup on these - gross.  They only acceptable topping is whipped cream - freshly made, or from a can, or even Cool Whip, if you prefer it (I don't, but hey, whatever floats your boat). 

Even better if you layer it like this.  Oh, Cookies n Cream goondess...

Yeah, I know, this is more like dessert for breakfast, but people eat donuts for breakfast, so is this really worse than that?  

Here's the recipe, if you want to give it a try: (keep in mind that this is a BIG batch, b/c I am making it to feed 6 people - you can easily halve this recipe if needed)

2 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

4 Tbsp sugar

2 cups milk (any kind will do, even skim is fine)

2 eggs

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, very finely chopped by hand, or processed in the food processor until finely chopped, almost to a crumbly powdery consistency (I would recommend the second option, it is faster and MUCH easier than doing it by hand).  You can use semisweet or milk chocolate chips, depending on your family's feelings about dark chocolate (Lou hates it, and liked the milk chocolate much better)

Whipped cream

1.  Heat a non-stick griddle on the stove over medium-low heat (just a touch below the medium setting, because you don't want it too hot, or the pancakes will brown too quickly, before the inside gets cooked)

2.  Combine your dry ingredients with a wire whisk in a large bowl

3.  Combine the wet ingredients with a whisk in a medium bowl

4.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk/beat until well blended and relatively smooth.

5.  Gently stir in the finely chopped chocolate (no need to beat the batter any more at this point)

6.   Using a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measuring cup (it depends on how big you want your pancakes), pour pancakes onto griddle.  Flip over when bubbles start appearing, and when the edges begin to appear a little dry.  Cook until second side is lightly browned (I'm a freak and always have to break one pancake open to make sure that they are cooked in the middle, but I'm neurotic, so don't feel the need to do that).

7.  Serve topped with whipped cream and eat immediately!  (the hot pancake makes the whipped cream melt pretty quickly).  

Enjoy!