Yeast-Raised Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancake Recipe

These rich yeast raised chocolate pancakes with chocolate chips are not too sweet and intensely flavored. They make a very adult brunch item when paired with the coffee maple syrup.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Rise Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Servings 4" pancakes

Calories 245kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Batter

6.75 oz all purpose flour about 1 3/4 cup, whisked, spooned, and leveled
1.25 oz cocoa powder sifted (about 1/3 cup)
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
4 Tablespoons brown sugar packed
8 oz whole milk barely warm
8 oz water barely warm
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 large egg beaten
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

To Cook

softened butter
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Syrup

1 cup real maple syrup cold from the fridge
3 Tablespoons cool butter
1 teaspoon espresso powder (more if you like)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8-1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

For the Batter

In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk all the dry ingredients together. (flour, cocoa powder, salt, yeast, brown sugar)
In another bowl, thoroughly whisk all the wet ingredients together (milk, water, melted butter, egg, vanilla).
Pour the wet into the dry ingredients and whisk very well until you have a smooth batter.
(Note with regular pancakes, you don't want to whisk a ton. But in this case, we want to develop some gluten to hold onto the bubbles from the yeast)
Cover and set in a warm place to rise until about doubled, an hour or so. The batter will increase in volume and become very light and bubbly.

To Cook

When the batter is ready, preheat a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat for a good ten minutes or so.
Smear a small amount of butter over the cooking surface (I used a wadded up paper towel) and then pour in 1/4 cup of batter.
Allow to cook for 30 seconds or so and then evenly distribute 8-10 chips over the surface, staying at least 1/2" away from the edges of the pancake.
With a measuring spoon, scoop up another teaspoon or teaspoon and a half of batter and drip it on top of each chip to cover them. It seems fussy, but this is the best way to get an even distribution of chips, lovely round pancakes and no burned chocolate.
Let the pancake cook until set up to about 1/4" in from the edge, a total of about 3-4 minutes.
Flip carefully and allow to cook an additional 1-1 1/2 minutes until done. Place on the prepared rack in the oven to keep warm.
Wipe out the pan, add another small smear of butter, and repeat with the rest of the batter. If you have a preferred pancake griddle, by all means use that instead.

For the Syrup

Place the maple syrup, butter, espresso powder, vanilla and salt into your blender jar and blend on high speed until thickened and well-emulsified. If you have a high-speed blender, this should also warm the syrup to about room temperature. Don't start with warm syrup or melted butter or it will be harder to form an emulsion.
Serve the pancakes hot with syrup and enjoy.

Notes

The yield is approximate and will serve 3 or 4 people. Nutritionals are based on 4 servings of 3 4" pancakes each and 1/4 of the syrup.

Cook time is of course for one pancake. I only cooked one at a time since I was trying to figure out the best way to do it. If you're fancy and there is enough room in your pan, you can make 2-3 at a time.

Nutrition