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Recipe Thu Apr 19 2007
Pancakes: Chocolate Chunk and Toasted Pecan
I took today off to spend some time with my visiting pal Sujata. We kicked it off making the vegan yogurt pancakes that I wrote about earlier. We made a few key modifications that made these pancakes taste "really nutty" and "really good," as Sujata put it. We replaced 1/4 cup of the flour with chestnut flour that I've stored in the freezer since I bought it from Chestnut Growers at Green City Market last year. We also tossed in chopped up bittersweet chocolate and a handful of toasted pecans.
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup chestnut flour
1+1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces vanilla soy yogurt (I find Stonyfield's O'Soy to be the richest)
3/4 cup soy milk
1 ounce of a bittersweet chocolate bar, chopped
1 handful pecans halves (raw if you're going to toast yourself - see instructions)
oil for the pan
Preheat a dry griddle or pan with a low flame (until a flick of water from your finger sizzles). Add pecan halves and toast for about 2 minutes, shaking twice - just until they give a very slight fragrance. Set the pecans aside in a bowl and chop the chocolate into whatever size pieces you like. Oil the pan or griddle just so it looks shiny and return it to a low flame. Meanwhile in a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (except chocolate and pecans) until well combined. Then, stir in the soy milk followed by the soy yogurt. Mix only as much as needed - anymore and you'll work the gluten in the flour into giving you a chewy pancake. Finally, stir in the chopped chocolate and toasted pecans. The batter will be thick.
For each pancake, scoop one quarter of the batter onto the hot pan or griddle (check it first with a flick of water), quickly spread it around into a round pancake shape, and leave it to rise. After a few minutes, bubbles will come to the top and the pancake will become dryer, especially at the sides. The bottom should be nicely browning; take a peek with a spatula. (If it's burnt - or golden before the sides start to look dry or before you see bubbles - your heat is too high. After several minutes, if bubbles aren't forming, the top looks wet and the bottom remains white, the heat is too low.) When the bottom is golden, flip the pancake and cook it until the other side is golden, too.
Warm banana slices on the pan or griddle. Serve with warm bananas, maple syrup and powdered sugar (dust with sugar by knocking a sieve of powdered sugar against your hand).
 Toasting pecans |  Chocolate and pecans in batter |
 Starting to cook |  Dry edges and bubbles |
 Just flipped |  Warming bananas |
 Dusting with sugar (photo: Sujata) |  |
Illinois Master Gardener / April 20, 2007 4:51 AM
I didn't know this recipe could get even better!