During the week we’re the quick breakfast kind of family. Usually eggs or oatmeal and toast. Smudge always has toast because she’s a dunker. I don’t get it, the girl dunks her toast in everything from cereal to orange juice. Ew.
But when we have time, mostly on the weekends, I like to cook something tasty, and a little more sweet for my little lover girl. And when chocolate is involved, pony up and order seconds.
The killer part of this recipe is making the master recipe of dry ingredients, doubling it, then storing the rest away for a later breakfast, or two. The result is a pancake breakfast I can whip up even on the weekdays.
You’ll find the master recipe for my Chocolate Pancakes here. To make it up on an individual basis I’ll mix about a cup of dry pancake mix with ⅓ cup or so of milk. Then I’ll whisk the egg white of one egg, so it’s pretty fluffy, and add it to the mix. Boom! Weekend breakfast for a regular old school day. I feel like adding the chocolate is okay since there’s a hit of chocolate in store.
I made these for Smudge’s Valentine breakfast, after I “failed” my Valentine’s Day post. A post that my husband ironically commented about.
Now my husband, or as I lovingly refer to him as G, reads every post I write. But he rarely talks about them. Probably because he is far too smart to offer an opinion to someone as bull-headed as myself. So when he does say something, it means a lot, and what he told me on Valentine’s night at the restaurant where we first met ‘lo those many years ago, sitting at the bar at 10 p.m. after dropping our daughter off for a weekend with her cousins at Grammy’s house, starving and tired and just needing to do something different. Or the same. It made me remember why I do what I do.
As we were chowing on chowder and salad, a glass of wine for me, a craft beer for him, he told me he really liked my “failed” post. What? Why would he like to see me admit that I failed?
“Because,” he said, “It was so…you. The real you.”
And that, I was reminded again, is what creativity is all about. Being yourself. Talking about the beauty—and the beast. Both of which come from within and both of which have a time and a place to remind us all that behind the smoke and mirrors, we’re all human, we all have something to share in addition to shiny rainbows and bouncy unicorns.
Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 1 /4 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, mix wet ingredients together until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Set mix aside to rest for 10 minutes.
- Preheat a non-stick griddle to 325°F and cook pancakes in batches. Keep warm on a cookie sheet lined with a cooling rack in a 250°F oven until ready to serve.
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I don’t know from where i landed on your blog but am so glad I did. i think am going to love reading it on a regular basis..well as soon as i write this comment am going to go look for the sign me icon. Loved the pan cakes and the photography…so much so that am planning to get up a bit early tomorrow morning and try them. too bad dinner is already ready. Am looking fwd to staying a bit as i really wan tot read the ‘failed valentine post’ I have a silent one at home to, but when he says something i take him very seriously and he does read all my posts :))
these pictures are so beautiful, and the chocolate pancakes? sighhhh. sound like the best breakfast! thanks for sharing.
Don’t have to ask ME twice, I WILL pony up to these!!! OH MY! Oh, and I’m definitely adding “paleo curious” to everyday vernacular as well. Thx.
Paleo curious, so you don’t have to go whole hog, ya know?
GREAT to meet you this weekend Heidi at BYB. The ebook class was by far my favorite! thanks again for sharing your knowledge!
So glad to have met you too! Thanks so much for coming and I’m glad you enjoyed the seminar!
Neat post Heidi. My girl will lose those chocolate pancakes.
Love your favorite tidbits and links that you share..
I’m so not good at making pancakes, in fact I’m having a real post coming up these days about my struggles to make fluffy pancakes so I’ll have to try your version. That stack looks amazing Heidi!
First, those pancakes look utterly sinful! And I love that your husband reads all your posts. I’m not sure if Jason does that. Maybe he does and he just doesn’t tell me.
Anyway, I also wanted to say thank you for the link on updating the facebook tabs. I’ve been wanting to add instagram/twitter/pinterest tabs for so long but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. But her site it just amazing and I managed to add all 3 in like 2 minutes. Wow.
Awesome! I’m so glad it was helpful.
My littles could eat pancakes at every meal, they love them so. I’m going to have to try yours out! I love Joy’s ‘real talk’ posts, too – they are always right on the money. xo
I know what I am having for tomorrow’s breakfast – these pancakes look fantastic.
I NEED that lip balm!!
Love the pancakes. The picture is beautiful..we do chocolate chip at home, now we will introduce chocolate! Thank you!
.i hope guys are allowed here.
Andris
Thank you and we love the chocolate chips too, Smudge is all about any chocolate addition. And yes, more boys please!
Oh my gosh … those pancakes … I’d get up early every single morning for those. Yes I would.
I made your sweet little heart rice krispie treats this week. I would have taken a picture for ya, but they got gobbled up too quickly…a testament to how amazing they were! Thank you!
Oh I’m so glad they were a good treat! I bet your daughter was a stellar helper :)
I need these pancakes in my life, pronto!
I love your Friday posts every week – they introduce me to new things around the web. But anyway, I completely get what you mean about your husband actually commenting on the blog. My partner reads most of my posts but rarely says anything either, but when she does, it absolutely means the world to me.
I hear you’re going to be at BYBConf this weekend… Sure hope I get to meet you there… my first conference!
I am officially starving looking at these photos!!
I LOVE those pancakes! What an awesome way to start the day!
I love this friday faves. I’m all about real moments, especially in the blogging world. I probably share too much on my site, but it’s my real life and who I am. Wonder who prompted me to be ok with that ;)
Hope you’re well.
Heidi, thanks for the shout out and thank you for the link to Joy’s post. . I missed it but am so glad that you are sharing it! thank you! Happy Friday to you!
I’m with your husband – I love seeing the fails too. We all have them. It’s nice to see the whole person, sometimes we can’t always be “up”.
Thank you so much for including me in this post! I really love your work, so I’m honored to have such a kind shout-out from you. :)
First, the pancakes stack is exactly what I need right now. Second, thanks for introducing me to Jennifer’s blog ( stunning to say the least ), third: I just saw these scones on Stephanie’s site. Want!
Hi Anna, so glad you found some new inspiration and found something new. Have a great weekend and thanks for the comment!
I will trade you chocolate risotto for chocolate pancakes. These are perfection!
Done and done. Your chocolate risotto is on my list in a big way.
Those paaancaaaaakes aw me lawwwwd.
I love your soapbox. Keep preaching :)
From one minister to another: love ya sista.
These are the perfect Valentine’s day breakfast. Stunning photos, Heidi!
Love this post Heidi!!! The food photography is stunning as always.
It was pancake day here on Tuesday (the day before the start of lent) so I’m totally in the pancake zone and definitely going to make these for breakfast this weekend!