Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pancakes

Pancakes have always been one of my favorite comfort foods. The soft, warm carbs might have something to do with it, but it’s more than that. Mixing up a batch always stirs my memories, bringing me back to my 10-year-old self standing on a stool in my mother’s kitchen. I’d crack open the big red and white checkered Betty Crocker cookbook, disturbing pages that had torn away from the 3-ring binding. Gathering the strays, I’d stuff them back in place and then begin my search for the measuring spoons. They were always hard to find in a kitchen with 72 cabinets and 5 sets of hands always putting them in different places. The recipe’s page number, however, I knew by heart, and I was close to committing the recipe to memory as well. Seven ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, oil, egg. Pancakes, the first recipe I ever learned to cook by myself. With 5 younger siblings, my mom was more than happy to let me lend a helping hand for breakfast. And I did, many a morning. So much so that the recipe is still stuck in my head.

So it only seems fitting that the first recipe I ever invented on my own would be a pancake recipe too. After last week’s recipe, I’m sure you’re all beginning to pick up on my obsession with peanut butter and chocolate. But seriously, it doesn’t get much better than that combination right there. Unless of course you add, oatmeal.  Which is exactly what I did. I hope you enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pancakes 

{makes 12}

[ingredients] 

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1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup chocolate chips

butter, for the griddle

honey or syrup, for serving 

[directions] 

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Mix. Pulse oats in a food processor until fine and flour-like. Combine pulsed oats, flour, salt, baking powder, and brown sugar in a medium size bowl. Wisk together eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla in a separate bowl until paste-like. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients, followed by 1 1/2 cups of milk. Mix until combined, but don’t worry about any lumps that may remain. If the batter is too thick, add more milk a tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency. Slowly stir in chocolate chips.

Cook. Heat a griddle over medium heat and brush with some melted butter. Once well heated, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form on top. Flip and cook the other side, about 1-2 minutes. Serve warm with honey or syrup!

//all photography is my own. please do not use without permission\\