a.forte's blog of Spain Hill Farm: Pancake and Chocolate Syrup Recipe

Since I whetted your appetites with the post about Birthday Breakfasts, I thought I'd answer your questions on how to make the incredible (and incredibly simple!) Homemade Chocolate Syrup and how to add more flavor to your basic pancakes. So, here we go.

First for the pancakes, you begin with a simple baking mix. I don't like to see a bunch of ugly boxes sitting in my pantry so I use old pantry jars to hold most dry goods. If you need the measurements for biscuits, pancakes, etc., just copy it from the box and taped it to the jar.

Did you know that most old teacups hold exactly one cup? That makes them perfect as scoops in flour and sugar jars. And, the look nice too. This one is a vintage Homer Laughlin teacup. I assume it was made for a restaurant or hotel because of the JC monogram.

Here are the other ingredients for the pancakes. It's a pretty basic, by-the-box recipe except, for more flavor, I add a splash of maple flavoring. I also substitute part of the milk with flavored creamer. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, you can add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup of creamer. When I substitute with creamer, I do not add any sugar that the instructions list. Flavored creamer has enough.

Mix well!

Here's a pancake trick that I picked up from Julia Child's cookbook. Let the batter rest for a few minutes before pouring it in your pan. You can see in the photo above, there are a lot more air bubbles in the second photo than the first. Those bubbles will help make fluffier pancakes.

Whether you're using a pan like this one (which I happen to think is the bomb-diggity for making pancakes) or a griddle, always preheat it before adding your batter. Otherwise, you batter will continue to spread and your pancake will be thin instead of thick and fluffy.

Enough with the pancakes, you're here for this! Hot, chocolaty syrup! I didn't take a picture of the ingredients but they are very basic. Here's what you'll need: 1 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup cocoa powder (I just use store brand or whatever may be on sale), 2 tablespoons of butter, and 1/3 cup of sugar. Put everything in a saucepan and gradually heat to a slow boil. Once it begins to boil, turn the heat down to simmer. I like my chocolate syrup thin so that it saturates the pancakes. If you would like it thicker, you can add a little bit of cornstarch before the boil. But I wouldn't...just saying :)

So we've got everything prepared. Let's put it all together.

Mmmm....hot buttery pancakes. Just waiting for the chocolaty goodness.

Are you ready for this?

Ok. Here goes!

Oh my goodness...hurry up!

Wow, if your screens were scratch and sniff, you'd be envying me about now.

That will just about do it! See the chocolate syrup puddled around the pancakes? That's when you know you've got enough on there. It won't stay a puddle for long. It's going to soak right into those pancakes, making them incredible!

Oh my!

I hope you get a chance to try these and you'll know what I mean. I normally eat pretty healthily but, hey, birthdays are special and come once a year.

Tomorrow I'll eat some yogurt but for now...