Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

It's not secret that I love breakfast food. Lately, I have been posting more breakfast recipes (here and here), especially pancakes. Am I overdoing it? I think not, because if pancakes (and oatmeal!) were to provide all the vitamins and minerals, I would have them for every meal. There are millions of pancake recipes out there, each one claims to be the fluffiest. I tried many of those recipes, and I found the Joy of Cooking pancake recipe to be the best one out there.

I began my Christmas break earlier this week. What a relief after 17 weeks of community rotation in Huntington, West Virginia. Although I longed for the break, the dietetic internship is not half way done yet. Food service rotation is next when I return in January, not the scope of dietetics I want to get into but I am curious to see what it will bring.

This recipe was adapted from Minimal Baker's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Oatmeal Pancakes. My version of these pancakes is not vegan, but they did taste like moist and chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Cookie for breakfast? Yes, unlike certain name brand's breakfast cookies, these pancakes have substance. When made with love and care, topped with real maple syrup, now that's a real breakfast.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes
Makes 10 pancakes

1/2 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons almond butter
3 tablespoons butter, melted and at room temperature
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned oats are fine, see special instructions below)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat a skillet to medium heat.
2. Combine apple sauce with baking powder, add eggs, butter, salt, vanilla, almond butter, milk. Stir to combine well.
3. Stir in oats. If using old-fashioned oats, let mixture stand for 10 minutes and add more milk as needed.
4. Stir in flour and chocolate chips until just combined.
5. Scoop scant 1/4 cup measurements onto lightly greased skillet.
6. Cook for 2-4 minutes on each side. May take longer than regular pancakes.
7. Serve warm with real maple syrup.

Whole Wheat Lemon Soy Pancakes

This is the sight that always makes me happy on a Sunday morning:

Sky high stack of pancakes and warm real maple syrup.




I have been on a breakfast recipe kick lately, mostly because it's the best meal of the day. Call me boring, but 5 days of the week I have oatmeal for every breakfast. I love it, and I look forward it when I go to bed. Especially tomorrow's oatmeal has pumpkin puree, flaxseed, and crasins!

Sunday mornings are "special breakfast Sundays", which means I make something delicious to get the week started. Pancakes are the usually favorite around the house. A couple months ago, 8th continent Soymilk has kindly send me some soymilk to use in my recipes.

Growing up, we always made our own soy milk using raw soybeans. We boil and simmer the soybeans with water in a large stock pot, strain the liquid through a cheese cloth, then mix it well in a blender. The homemade soy milk was thinner because we didn't fortify it with other vitamins/minerals like the ones sold in United States. (Remember to shake up the soy milk before pouring because the added vitamins and minerals, mainly calcium, tend to stay on the bottom!) Nowadays there's vanilla, chocolate, lowfat, and more kinds of flavor than I knew. This 8th Continent Soymilk tastes delicious  and reminds me of what I used to have at home, like real soy milk.

This dairy-free recipe is adapted from my favorite pancake recipe from Joy of Cooking. With a splash of lemon juice and some lemon zest added to the batter, the soy milk flavor stands out. In Jake's words "These are the best pancakes I've ever had. This recipe is a keeper!"

Whole Wheat Lemon Soy Pancakes

Makes about 10 pancakes

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 3/4 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, room temperature

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 cup 8th Continent Soymilk, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, soy milk, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest; mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix with a few strokes, until just combined with some lumps. Don't over mix.

2. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter at a time on a heated skillet. Wait until bubbles in batter, about 2 minutes, flip over for another 1 minute. 

3. Serve warm with real maple syrup.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancake

I have a new addiction this fall season.

It's pumpkin.

I can't seem to get enough of it.

Since fall season started, I have made numerous pumpkin pudding, pumpkin pies, pumpkin oatmeal, and now pumpkin pancake. Something about this vibrant orange color vegetable and its subtle sweetness that capture my taste buds this year. I wish I have the time and effort to make homemade pumpkin puree all the time. Canned pumpkin always tastes....tasteless. The canned pumpkin mix tastes even worse, trust me, I accidentally bought a can once.




This recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin puree, which works well since I had half of a large can of pumpkin puree in the refrigerator.

I love the cinnamon, ginger, and other spices that goes in this pancake batter. The pancakes taste like pumpkin pie, and they are even better with warm (real!) maple syrup and a mug of hot black coffee. Hmmm...this is why I love breakfast food. Brinner, anyone?

 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancake
Makes 8-10 pancakes
(Recipe adapted from New South Food Company)

1.5 cups Whole wheat flour
1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
4 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice (Or 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Milk
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Egg
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice and salt. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake and spread out with a spoon. Wait till large bubbles start to appear in the middle and flip. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
3. Serve warm with real maple syrup.