Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancakes, the iconic breakfast food that has an entire restaurant devoted to it. Pancakes are a big deal in my house. They are the breakfast tradition when my niece visits and every snow day that we get to sleep in and take the day off.

Now it must be understood that I was raised to NEVER bake anything from a box. Everything must be made from scratch. I do break that rule occasionally, for example, I still cannot make instant sugar-free pudding so I resort to Jell-o for that. And I also think that my brownies from scratch and Ghiradelli boxed brownie mix taste almost identical. But I digress.

Getting back to the making everything from scratch, naturally that would include pancakes. Mom's pancake recipe is almost as easy as the stuff you buy at the store and it tastes much, much better.

Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups milk

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Whisk JUST until combined. Mixture will be lumpy.

Now, I did name this Chocolate Chip Pancakes so here is the chocolate part. At this point, add as many chocolate chips as is desired. Other add-ins include blueberries, bananas or strawberries.

Heat a griddle pan on medium high heat and spray with olive oil.  With a ladle, pour about a 1/4 of a cup of batter onto the griddle. (My griddle fits four pancakes at once, but that will depend on the size of the pan) When bubbles start to form and pop on the top of the pancake, gently flip pancakes. Check for golden brown colour by lightly lifting one side of the pancake. When both sides are golden brown, remove pancakes to a plate and place in a warm oven until everything is ready.

Since this is another food tradition is my house, there is of course a specific way to observe this tradition. In my house and in my mother's, pancakes are spread with a little bit of butter and a liberal amount of peanut butter and then drizzled with maple syrup. It's the most delicious way to eat pancakes, I promise.