Wednesday 25 February 2015

Chocolate pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce

Everyone deserves a second chance.  I had one on Shrove Tuesday this year.  You see, on my birthday I went to the Pancake Parlour to indulge in chocolate pancakes but was disappointed.  It was too much ice cream and not enough pancake.  So I made them myself and they were perfect.  Give me chocolate sauce and berries rather than ice cream any day!

The chocolate pancake recipe was found through Jac's 25 pancake stacks to drool over.  They were too decadent for breakfast so we had them for dessert.  After a simple soup for dinner.  The first pancake I made was a bit one but after that I made them smaller like my usual ones.  Even with crowding a few on the pan I found that this mixture made a lot of pancakes.  We still have quite a few of them in the freezer.

The chocolate sauce was a revelation.  Last year I found an idea on Fat Free Vegan for chocolate ganache using choc chips, milk and nut butter rather than chocolate and cream.  I used this for the sauce and it worked brilliantly.  This uses ingredients we usually have about rather than having to buy cream.

The pancakes tasted so good I wanted to take some photos to do them justice.  They were dark and decadent in flavour, yet light and fluffy with texture.  The rich fudgy chocolate sauce worked perfectly with the juicy berries and pillowy pancakes.  E and Sylvia had some ice cream with theirs but I thought they were crazy!

It was a gloomy grey day.  By the time we had made the pancakes after dinner, the light was dull inside.  I took the pancakes outside where I found it was drizzling.  I then discovered that my camera memory card was full and while I was trying to clear it our cat started taking an interest in the pancakes! 

We had so many pancakes that we were able to have a go at stacking them.  I am always amazed at photos of huge stacks of pancakes.  Do people ever eat that many?  And how do they stay in a neat stack.  I took some photos of Sylvia trying to stack them and you can see it was not easy.  Seriously if I really wanted to do it properly I would make bigger pancakes and stack them without a 5 year old about. 

It was a fitting end to the evening when I read to Sylvia before bedtime and the book was about the Moomins eating pancakes.  We have recently finished the Finn Family Moomintroll.  It has awakened me to the charm of the Moomins.  I really loved it when the Hobgoblin visited and was given some pancakes.  He hadn't eaten pancakes for 85 years.  Yet I think he should eat them more often because the Moomins felt that "one can't be too dangerous, if they like to eat pancakes.  I heartily agree!

I am sending these pancakes to Bangers and; Mash and Eat Your Veg for February's Healthy Family Foodies blog event with the theme of Pancake Party, and to Jac at Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes.

More pancake recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Almond meal pancakes
Banana oat pancakes
Blinis with sour cream and beetroot chutney
Pancakes with oats and cornmeal  
Pancakes filled with potato and lentils
Pumpkin buckwheat pancakes 
Spiced carrot pancakes
Spinach pancakes 

Chocolate pancakes with berries and chocolate sauce
Adapted from Cooking Classy
Makes about 2 dozen small pancakes

1 cup milk (I used soy)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar1/3 cup cocoa 
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup plain white flour
1/2 cup plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp maple syrup
margarine or oil for frying
chocolate sauce (below) and berries to serve

Mix milk and vinegar and set aside to sour.  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Use a fork to lightly whisk soured milk, eggs, oil and maple syrup.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Heat a large non stick heavy bottomed frypan over medium heat.  Rub a little butter, margarine or oil over the surface (I use the back of a teaspoon to spread margarine about).  Drop heaped dessertspoons of mixture onto pan with a little space between them.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes - a few bubbles should appear - flip and cook another minute or so until lightly browned on each side.

Eat warm with berries and chocolate sauce.  (Leftovers can be frozen or kept for the lunchbox the next day.)

Chocolate sauce
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp almond butter

Microwave on 30 seconds or until choc chips are just about melted and stir well until smooth and glossy.

On the Stereo:
Weightlifting - Trash Can Sinatras

32 comments:

  1. Ahh we love the Moomins in this quarter Finnish household. I have a few things with Moomims but not as many as my husband did when he was young! Have you seen the Moomins cookbook? It's really fun!

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - I hope to find a few more moomins books - they are so sweet. Will look out for the cookbook

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  2. These pancakes look sooooo good. I would be very happy if someone made me this for breakfast.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I think I would find these quite rich for breakfast but loved them for dessert

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  3. I'm in awe of pancake stacks, we always eat a pancake out of the pan (no stacks here) which means one child at a time gets fed :P

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    1. Thanks Veganopoulous - we usually eat them out of the pan - it takes great self control to stack them - as well as trying not to burn the pan while I get distracted!

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  4. These look so amazing, and I bet way better than pancake parlour ;) I love the idea of nut butter in choccy sauce, I will have to try that. And Veganopoulous, my mum used to do it that way - it was always a fight for who got the first pancake while the other looked on longingly!

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    1. Thanks Caeli - yes much better than the pancake parlour - and try the chocolate sauce with nut butter - it is really good. My mum used to have an electric frypan on the table when she made pancakes and they went straight out of the pan to a plate to be eaten - it was perhaps where I learnt my awe of the pancake parlour because it was the only place I saw pancake stacks

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  5. What a stunning plate…the chocolate sauce looks heavenly delicious! I love making petite pancakes so you can stack them as many as you like and drizzle some nice apple syrup or that amazing chocolate sauce of yours all over! That’s a good question, I always ponder how people eat that many…I don’t think I can. Wishing you and your beautiful family a glorious day, Johanna!

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    1. Thanks Rika - apple syrup on pancakes sounds lovely - I cooked some old plums and strawberries with a little maple syrup on the weekend to serve with pancakes - it was delicious - am sure it would work with these too. I love the small pancakes so I can eat more too

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  6. They look absolutely delicious! Warm gooey sauce over ice cream any day :) Beautiful presentation, those berries and glossy sauce are so inviting

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    1. thanks Katie - warm gooey sauce was amazing - even good eaten from the jug in the fridge - am sure it would be great with ice cream but much prefer it with pancakes :-)

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  7. If you want it done right, then do it yourself! These look so tasty!

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  8. Do the pancakes have cocoa in them or are they just nicely browned? Yum!

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    1. Thanks Cate - have put the cocoa into the recipe - don't know how I missed that one but thanks for the gentle reminder

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  9. Your photos definitely do them justice! These look great, and far better than anything I've seen at the pancake parlour. So fluffy and the berries look delicious on top.

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    1. Thanks Kari - I was pleased with the photos (and so was FoodGawker for a change) - the berries were lovely and gave the relief from in the intensity of the chocolate sauce

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  10. Wow- love your pancake stack! Lovely shot

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  11. Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone but I use toothpicks! That stack looks amazing especially with the chocolate sauce and berries. Thanks for entering it into Bookmarked Recipes, the roundup is now live

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    1. Thanks Jac - I didn't know the toothpicks trick but might just use it some day - don't worry - will keep your secret :-)

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  12. Oh chocolate pancakes! Genius idea =) They look so good - love the stacking pictures. I only ever make a few pancakes, so I've never been able to pull off the stacking thing.
    Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous btw. Wow.

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - I've dreamt of some good chocolate pancakes for years so was so happy that these worked so well and the recipe made such a ridiculous amount I might just had to halve the recipe next time

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  13. They look glorious. Sometimes to suit your own tastes you just have to make it yourself, right?

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  14. These look delicious. I'm amazed when people get enough pancakes to actually make a stack. In our house, pancakes are consumed as soon as they leave the pan. Even making smaller pancakes just means they're easier to stuff into ones mouth faster...

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    1. Thanks Lisa - yes small pancakes are easy to go straight from hand to mouth - though they are a bit hot for Sylvia to go straight from pan so we do need to cool them a little for her - but I am with you in straight from pan

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  15. I told you I had bookmarked them, what I didn't tell you was I made them too. Hope you approve http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/chilli-chocolate-pancakes.html

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  16. I'm a big fan of chocolate pancakes and could devour a whole stack of these bad boys! Another brilliant entry for the Family Foodies pancake party - thanks for sharing!

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