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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Ritual Weekend Pancakes

Lately, I've been treating myself to Chocolate Chip Pancakes once per weekend.  It's become a lovely little ritual and I really enjoy it.

Some would say that eating chocolate chip pancakes once a week, every week is not healthy.  To those people, I say, "You've obviously not had a good chocolate chip pancake because when they are this good, it doesn't matter."

And, can I just add, emotional health is just as important as physical health. This has become a relaxing, peaceful ritual and it helps me destress. I enjoy the act of whipping up batter and creating new flavors based on the type of chocolate laying around. Most of the time it's semi-sweet chocolate chips, but sometimes I will have stopped of at Whole Foods and picked up a fancy chocolate bar (of the dark chocolate variety) and I'll chop some of that up and throw it in.

It's fun, and I love it.



This past weekend, I escaped to my Mom's house with my laundry, and Sunday morning woke up to find:

NO PANCAKE MIX!
NO BISQUICK!
ONLY AN UNAPPETIZING BUTTERMILK MIX (Mom, toss that mix. Please.)!

I was desperate. So I turned to trusty google, and found the following recipe: 

1.5 cups flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar*
1 + 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted**

and, of course, chocolate!

*It's standard practice in my household to add a touch of extra sugar and a splash and a half of vanilla extract.
**I'd cut down the butter amount. It was quite strong and I had to add extra ingredients to tone down the butter flavor. I want pancake flavored pancakes, not butter flavored pancakes.

This is a fantastic recipe, and I see it becoming my go-to.  It was easy to throw together, the batter was a great consistency, and I loved the coloring of the pancakes. I topped with maple syrup this time; I tend to vary in my toppings from week to week.

Do you have any weekend rituals?