Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancakes have to be the one dish that have been adapted into a wide range of cultures--French have crepes, Italians have crespelle, the Indians have pitha, Mexicans have hotcakes, etc. Almost every nation has their variation of what we call pancakes. The term "pancake" originated in 1430 in an English manuscript which means it probably originated decades, if not centuries, before that!

The recipe below is for Chocolate Chip Pancakes--they're so good that you don't need syrup (although, it doesn't hurt)!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (1 cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar = 1 cup buttermilk)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chip morsels

Directions:
1. Preheat a skillet over medium-low heat.
2. If your skillet is not non-stick, then apply cooking spray.
3. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and mix using a mixture until the batter is smooth. (You can also blend all the ingredients in a blender and pour into a bowl).
4. Pour batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch circles.
5. While cooking, place 10-15 morsels--one by one--on the circle of batter. The number of morsels can vary according to your own personal preference. Make sure to press the morsels deep into the batter.
6. As the edges appear to harden, flip the pancakes. Ideally they should look light brown. If they are too dark--lower your heat.
7. Cook the other side for the same amount of time, until light brown.

This recipe yields 8-10 pancakes.

Source: Adapted from Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur

Pancakes

When I want pancakes, I REALLY want pancakes (kinda like below). Oddly enough, I crave them more late at night than for breakfast.



This recipe is from All Recipe's (had 3122 reviews and an average 4.5 star rating!) and yields 8 servings. It's really easy and the only change I made to the recipe was adding vanilla extract!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Equipment:
Bowl
Fork
Spoon
Pan
Spatula

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar. Make a well in the center (make a hole in the middle) and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

At this point, I'm more like this: