When I stay overnight at my parents, they make me breakfast. I rarely eat a nice breakfast during the week, usually a bagel or some oatmeal when I’m at work. The weekends are reserved for an actual sit-down breakfast, which usually consists of hash browns, bacon, and either these Spiced Chocolate Chip Pancakes or chocolate chip waffles. Dad makes fun of me because I tell him to put too many chocolate chips in mine. I even made Homemade Caramel Syrup because chocolate and caramel go together and it’s so much better than those fake maple-flavored syrups.
I have to admit if my parents are making the pancakes, they are not spiced. That’s just how we ate growing up. If I’m making them, I automatically put in cinnamon and clove, which intensifies the flavor of the chocolate. I never knew spices could make that much of a difference in something so ordinary until I made Spiced Cookie Dough Ice Cream over the summer. That’s when I got the idea of adding cinnamon and clove to my pancakes. You’ll never go back to plain again.
Can I be honest with you? These photos are somewhat of a lie. I don’t eat stacked pancakes with butter or syrup. I am perfectly content with three pancakes in a single layer on a plate. If there are enough chocolate chips, I don’t need butter or syrup. But that all would make for boring photos, wouldn’t it?
Of course, being a food blogger, I had to eat the food as styled, so I ate the stacked pancakes with the butter and syrup. And then I wondered why I don’t eat pancakes like this more often. Since the pancakes sat there for a bit, the syrup soaked into the pancakes, which made them even better. I guess there are benefits in not eating right away!
These spiced chocolate chip pancakes have become a family tradition. If I’m with my parents, whether they visit me or I visit them, we end up eating some form of this recipe (with or without spices and/or syrup). That means tomorrow morning (Christmas!) I will be asking for a stack (that I will spread out because I like eating them one at a time).
Ingredients :
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Caramel Syrup
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened (add pinch of salt if unsalted)
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions :
- Preheat the oven to 200F. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, clove, and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the egg, milk, and oil. Gradually pour into the dry ingredients while whisking until everything is moistened (do not overmix - lumps are ok but there should be no pockets of flour). Whisk in the chocolate chips. Batter should be a little thin.
- Heat up a skillet large enough to flip one pancake. When hot, pour in 1/4 cup of the batter. When bubbles form on top and edges are firm, flip and cook the other side until brown. Remove and place on the cooling rack.
- Repeat with the remaining batter. When finished, place the baking sheet in the oven for 5 minutes to warm up before serving with caramel syrup (recipe below).
- For the syrup: In a medium saucepan melt the butter on medium-low heat. Whisk in the brown sugar until moist and sticky. Add the water and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. The syrup will be thin. Remove from the heat and serve with pancakes.
