Episode 86
January 15, 2012
Chocolate Chip Pancakes
“Another pancake episode??” I’m sure you’re thinking. “Yes. Absolutely,” is what I’m thinking. Who doesn’t love pancakes? They are really easy to make, super affordable, and these have chocolate chips! Take that 2011! 2012 has pancakes with chocolate chips!
There isn’t much to say that’s particularly unique about this recipe except that it’s sooo tasty. I actually developed this recipe as a hybrid of a couple different recipes – namely a pancake recipe and a chocolate chip cookie recipe. I was looking over the ingredients of a pancake and I quickly realized, “Hey, instead of blitzing all the ingredients together – what if we used the creaming method?” Turns out the results are fantastic. I’m not exactly sure what it is about that mixing method that makes it taste so different than other pancakes I’ve had, but the texture created is definitely fluffy and light.
For those of you who are new to baking and pastry, the creaming method is a mixing method that is normally used with cookies and cakes. It takes room temperature butter and creams it with a paddle with the sugar(s) in the recipe. The lightened sugar and butter mixture (now loaded with air cells) is then creamed with the eggs one at a time. Then the remaining ingredients are alternatively added between dry and wet.
The chocolate chips are folded in at the end to make sure that they don’t all sink to the bottom of the batter. During the cooking process you’ll probably need to pull some of them up. I’ve heard in the past that lightly coating mix-ins (like the chocolate chips in this case) helps hold them in place in loose batters like cake batters.
When your griddle is not too hot or too cold, bubbles erupting on the surface of your pancake means it's time to flip
A common question people have about pancakes is: how do you know when to flip them? The best way to tell is based on the bubbles that are coming up on the surface. If your temperature is not too cold or too hot, then this is an excellent indication that the bottom side is browned and the rest of the batter is firm enough it won’t tear up upon flipping. Other tests include: smelling the air (if it smells like pancakes, they’re ready to flip) and pushing them around slightly (to see if they are holding together). The important thing to remember about pancakes is that if you mess up, they’re only pancakes. Sweet delicious chocolate chip pancakes.
Here’s the recipe for chocolate chip pancakes and the video is below. Thank you for watching!
