Brownie Batter Pancakes for One

I am seriously doing a 903 things at once right now.

That may not sound like a lot to you but I’m not too used to multi-tasking and handling a bunch of stuff all at once. I like to give each task my undivided attention. Multi-tasking usually freaks me out.

But today I am trying to find the perfect birthday treat for one of my great friends, make my gma some candied pecans, clean the kitchen, figure out something quick to have for breakfast, look around on Facebook (cus it’s super important, duh!), write this post while uploading pics to my Flickr. See? 903 things! I don’t exaggerate here, I don’t need the drama. And I have to do all that by 11am. It’s 9:18am now. Oh gosh, my life is overrrr!!!

Ahem.

Good thing that I have the best recipe EVER for THE MOST AMAZING QUICK FIX PANCAKES THAT WON’T KILL MY WAISTLINE!! Yes, I’m yelling at you. I want you to understand the sheer awesomeness of these pancakes. These come together super quick, they are chocolatey delicious, a perfect breakfast (or dinner, or dessert) for one, and the best part about these is that you get about 8 silver-dollar sized chocolate pancakes all for yourself and it won’t kill your diet!!! How can anyone NOT get excited about that?! Now, go chow down on some pancakes!!

Brownie Batter Pancakes
Yields about 6-8 silver dollar pancakes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (30g) *
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 Tablespoon of Splenda Granulated sugar (or 1 Tablespoon of sugar)
pinch of salt (optional)
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce (I used this)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 1/2 Tablespoon nondairy milk**

*There are several options for flour choice, choose what works for you: spelt flour, whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, or even a gluten free AP flour.

**Same goes for the milk, feel free to use what you have: soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk (oh, YUM) or plain ole dairy milk, I don’t judge 😉

Instructions:

If you have a pan that can handle the heat (such as a cast iron skillet) set a non-stick pan or skillet over medium-low heat. (I do this before anything else so that once the mix is done, the skillet is preheated and ready to go. I’m impatient, clearly.)

In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together very well.

In a small measuring cup, stir together all the wet ingredients.

Add the wet to the dry and mix until the dry ingredients JUST disappear. You don’t want gummy pancakes.

If you haven’t already, preheat your skillet on medium-low heat and let it get nice and hot (flick some water on the surface of the pan, if it sizzles it’s ready to go!) Pour a very small amount (about 2 Tablespoons, one cookie scoop) worth of batter onto the center of your skillet and let it cook until bubbles start to form and the edges are set. Flip them, taking care not to break the pancakes (they are fragile) and cook them for 30 seconds – 1 minute longer.

Stack, throw on every topping you can think of (not really. Try: powdered sugar, caramel, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, sliced berries, nuts, dried fruit, your favorite yogurt and granola, or maple syrup) and dig in!!

adapted from Skinny Taste

Servings: 1 • Serving size: 6-8 silver-dollar pancakes (one recipe without toppings) • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 172 • Fat: 2.4 g • Carb: 32 g • Fiber: 6.7 g • Protein: 5.3 g • Sugar: 4.7
Sodium: 241.7 (without salt)

Banana Bread Pancakes

When I was in high school, I was not your typical sleeps-til-noon teenager. Nope, not me. I spent every weekday morning getting out of bed at 5am to be able to get up, shower, beautify, collect my things and be out the door on time to catch the bus. So when the weekend came, sleeping in meant 8am.

Now, being an adult, I seem to have found my love for sleep. I usually wake up no earlier than 10am on my days off (unless certain circumstances arise) and sometimes I can even sleep until noon, depending on how late I stayed up baking the night before.

This newly found adoration for my comfy bed and warm blankie sadly interferes with the other love of my life: pancakes for breakfast.

After staring at the clock in disbelief (and other various distractions), I’m usually ready to decide what to make for breakfast around noon. Then I get distracted some more and I either end up skipping breakfast all together or having pancakes at 1:30pm.

It’s National Pancake Day, don’t be like me: start your day off right, enjoy your pancakes for breakfast 🙂

These pancakes taste like you whipped up banana bread dough and accidentally spilled it in your skillet. It tastes exactly like banana bread; but with the whole wheat flour, small amounts of sugar and butter, you can feel good about piling 4 onto your plate. They are fluffy, thick and full of delicious flavor.

Banana Bread Pancakes
adapted from How Sweet Eats

makes 4 pancakes

Ingredients:

2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, whisking until combined. In a meauring cup, measure out the milk and vanilla extract and give it a quick stir. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a rubber spatula. At this point, the mixture will still be dry. Add in mashed banana and mix thoroughly. Add melted butter and stir until batter is somewhat smooth.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. When hot, spritz with non-stick cooking spray and using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top and the pancake looks set around the edges – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup, or however you wish.

Note: If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use 1 cup of regular whole wheat + 1 cup of all purpose. Or 2 cups of all purpose.

Single Lady Pancake

If I could have a lifetime supply of anything in the entire world, it would be pancakes.

And shoes.

And money.

And glitter.

And pink. Yes, just pink.

I’m veering from the point.

Which is pancakes. I could eat them for every meal. Every day. All sizes, shapes, flavors, topped with maple syrup, fruit or whatever is within reach of my grubby little hands.

Pancakes.

When I came across this recipe, I scoffed at the idea of one pancake. ONE. Singular. Sad. But It was simple enough so that if I wanted another one, I could easily mix it together so I decided to give it a shot.

And holy pancake nirvana, was this good. And filling. I only needed one.

Yes, ONE. Singular. Happiness.

Single Lady Pancake
but totally for the married, committed and dating as well 🙂
Adapted from JoytheBaker

makes one large pancake

Ingredients:
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry purpose flour (or sub for AP flour)
1 Tablespoon dried oats (quick cooking or regular)
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons buttermilk (you can sub regular or soy milk)
splash of vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of peanut butter (optional)
small handful semi sweet chocolate chips (I used mini-chips)
toasted pecans*

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract and peanut butter (if using). Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine. The mixture will be thick. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Heat a small frying pan with a teaspoon of oil (or cooking spray, or if you have a great non-stick pan you don’t need anything). Pour in the pancake batter and spread some with the back of a spoon. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form and pop on the surface of the pancake.

Flip. It’s ok if it doesn’t flip perfectly… which it probably won’t. It’s not you, it’s the pancake. It’s sassy.

Cook until golden brown. Remove from pan and onto a plate. Top with toasted pecans and maple syrup. Or whichever way makes you “mmmm” with delight.

*to quicky toast your pecans, just “saute” them in your hot skillet before you make the pancake. Let them get toasty and warm for about 3-4 minutes, set aside.

Red Velvet Pancakes

Happy Valentines Day lovelies!!

If you celebrate, I hope that your day is filled with red and pink hearts, lots of hugs and sugary sweet chocolate.

Those who don’t celebrate, might I suggest celebrating discount chocolate Tuesday?!

I know I’ll be celebrating both!!

But on a serious note, I’d like to take a second to thank my husband for being exactly who he is.

He’s the one that swoops in and picks me up from an upsetting situation.

He’s the one that knows a hug can seriously heal all things ailing me.

He’s the one that makes any and all jokes just to possibly make me smile.

And mostly, he’s the one that loves me for exactly who I am… and doesn’t try to run away 😉

I love you pickle, with everything that I am and everything that I have to give.

So let’s pretend that I made you these pancakes for breakfast and let’s pretend that you actually liked them. I’d hate to have such vibrant beautiful red pancakes go to waste.

Ok….. so let’s pretend you made them for me.

Oh babe, you’re the best!!

Before you look at the ingredients list, YES there is packaged cake mix in there. It was the quickest and easiest way to make these. After all, who wants to spend the day trying to figure out how to make totally from scratch pancakes when you have valentines to open?

Red Velvet Pancakes
Adapted from How Sweet It Is

makes about 12 pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup red velvet cake mix
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups milk (I used vanilla almond milk)

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick, slightly lumpy. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use (I used Betty Crocker with great results). Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat (or an electric grilled and turn it to 250 degrees). Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with vanilla glaze.

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
sprinkles (optional)

Mix milk, extract and powdered sugar until glaze forms. You may need to add a little more sugar or water/milk to reach desired consistency. Mix into glaze and drizzle on pancakes.

Day 11: Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

If you’re anything like me, pancakes are far too scarce in your life. Although, I’m pretty sure that it’s just me. All alone, in my sad pancake-less world. Mainly, I don’t make them because I don’t have a griddle pan thingy. I make them in a pan on my uneven stove top. SO my pancakes never come out circular or even fluffy. Maybe I’m just doomed.

But, as I was reading a friends wonderful gingerbread pancake recipe, I got the bug. I knew that I’d have to get home to make pancakes. And fast! I had a recipe printed at home that had been staring me in the face for months now and I finally bit the bullet, as they say.

Good thing I did. I don’t want to live another day without these in my life. I didn’t have milk but that didn’t stop me!! I used heavy cream and then used water to thicken the batter (which I’m sure is what lead to its flatness). In retrospect, use whole milk… not heavy cream as your batter will be thiiiick!

Day 11 of my extravaganza and today you get breakfast. Or if you’re like me (again) for dinner. With butter, maple syrup AND whipped cream. That’s right, you heard me!

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes
Yields 4 servings

Ingredients:
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
3 Tablespoons White Sugar
½ teaspoons Salt
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
2 whole Eggs Beaten
1 cup Milk
2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup
¼ cups Butter, Melted
1 Tablespoon Vanilla

Instructions:
In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon with a whisk. Whisk well to make sure everything is combined.

In separate large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, corn syurp, butter and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture. Just mix to blend, it will be lumpy. That’s ok!!

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium/low heat. Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto griddle. Once bubbles start appearing on the surface, it’s time to flip. Cook second side for only a minute or two, or until its nice and brown.

Serve warm with icing drizzled over the top. Or butter and maple syrup and whipped cream. You’re welcome!