Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe

The perfect Breakfast, Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe is sure to please the entire family.  

This week both of my girls have been sick, and my youngest is teething, too.  Apparently, my four-year old is old enough to have developed comfort foods, so when I ask her what she would like for breakfast, she replies, “Umm, pancakes, I think.”  Pancakes = special attention and love when she is sick.

Now, most of what I cook is vegan, so we can’t do frozen pancakes, and we choose not to use Bisquick mix for pancakes.  (We could totally veganize a Bisquick pancake recipe, but I’m not in favor of the white flour and trans-fats. However, I’m not completely knocking it, I grew up on Bisquick and could probably still whip up a coffee cake pretty quickly.)

I am also one of those rare people who do not own a microwave, by choice, so pancakes are not a request as easy as cold cereal, especially with two sick babies.  Luckily, I have a pretty easy vegan pancake recipe that I feel good feeding to my kids and myself.  So good, in fact, that I usually mix in some dark chocolate chips for extra smiles with this Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe.  Hey, chocolate is chockfull of antioxidants, don’t cha know?  It is also a great way to cut down on the added syrup on top of the pancakes.  My kids do not miss the sugary syrup, which means I do not have to deal with a hyper sugar-infused child, and that is priceless.

Method:

I start by placing the baby in her highchair, if she will stand for it, with some puffs to knock on the floor for the dogs to eat.  This usually amuses her long enough to get the dry ingredients mixed in a bowl.  Once that is done, I start warming up the iron skillet. Then, I mix the wet ingredients together in a measuring cup and pour them into the dry ingredients bowl.

By now, my four year old has walked back into the kitchen because she wants to “mix” the ingredients.  I instruct her to mix gently, and she assures me that she is being so careful.  But really, she is sneaking spoonfuls of batter and infecting us all with her cold germs.   No matter, germs burn right out of food, right?  Sure.  Hey, at least there are no unpasteurized eggs in this vegan batter!

Next, the chocolate chip battle begins.  I usually give my oldest daughter a couple chips just to keep her pacified as I remove the bowl from the table to the area of the stove.  She always protests, and subsequently tries to pull a chair up to the relocated bowl.  I place the chair back, and pick up the baby, if I haven’t already.

I either use Earth Balance butter or coconut oil to fry up the cakes.  Once the pancake is baking, you can tell it’s time to flip when most of the bubbles have popped.  This time, since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I tried something a little different.  I poured some batter into a heart cookie cutter on the skillet.  It worked out pretty well, but truly it is easier to use the cookie cutter to cut a heart shape out of a round pancake.  (The edges do look a bit nicer on the one made in the cookie cutter).  Either way, the heart shapes were a big hit!

This is a reliable recipe, and I really do love it.  It makes me feel a bit like Super Mom!  Everyone eats; everyone is happy and full until lunch.  Mission accomplished!  This recipe is perfect for two people, or two people and an 8 month old.  If your breakfast menu calls for more people to eat with you, I’d double or triple this Vegan Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe.

Bethany Kingsley is a stay-at-home mother of two (ages 9 months and 4 years) who lives in STL, MO.  She has a Master’s of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in Children’s Literature and the remnants of a teething cookie on her arm.  She used to be able to do yoga every day, but that was before she had kids.  Now, she tries in vain to make use of her yoga teacher training with her children by creating preschooler approved sequences.  She has been a vegetarian (sometimes vegan) since 1989, and her kids are being raised vegetarian, too.

This is currently a trial period in which Beth was selected from many applicants to be a contributor on Courtney’s Sweets.   There’s currently 3 contributors who were chosen and we’ll be choosing our top and permanent contributor by March 2015!  Stay tuned   We were so excited about Beth’s post that we posted early.  Plus we tried the pancake recipe and Kay definitely approved!

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