Chocolate Chip Pancakes

We have a standing tradition in our house that everyone gets a cake made from pancakes on the morning of their birthday.   I make a stack of three pancakes and while they cool, I whip some fresh cream to frost the cake.  This year, my 3 year old daughter proclaimed she wanted chocolate chip pancakes.  Normally I make blueberry or banana pancakes, but little princesses can have whatever reasonable requests they make on their birthdays.

I've been using Ina Garten's Banana Sour Cream pancake recipe for as long as I can remember, and I love that recipe.  So I decided to just omit the lemon zest from the batter for the chocolate chip version.

We all decided we loved the chocolate chip version of these pancakes.   Maybe it was just a nice change of pace.  Or maybe its that its chocolate!  Whatever the reason, this morning for Valentine's day I decided to make them again, only this time heart shaped.

It only took one pancake for me to realize that using my heart shaped cookie cutter to mold the pancakes as they cooked was not only not a good idea, it was not the best use of time.  So from after that I made standard round pancakes and then cut them out with the cookie cutter after they cooked.

I've heard people say they don't like to make pancakes because as they cook batch after batch, they start to burn.  My pan can hold three medium or four small pancakes at a time.  To combat the burning of later batches, I wipe my pan clean with a paper towel in between batches and start fresh. And after a two or three batches, I slowly begin to lower my burner temp until I'm done making all the pancakes.

This recipe makes quite a few pancakes.  At least 15 medium sized pancakes.  I make 2-3 per person then continue cooking the rest.  I store the uneaten pancakes in zip top bags and freeze them.  During the week, I toast them up in the toaster oven for my daughter.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes
adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

• 1.5 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 extra large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pue vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• unsalted butter
• pure maple syrup

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing well only until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skilet over medium-low heat until it bubbles.   Using a spring loaded scoop, add the batter to the pan.   Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned.  Wipe out the pan with a paper towerl and add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used.  Serve with butter and maple syrup.

(I use the last batches cooked to serve to my family and reserve the first batches that have cooled to store for another day.)