Chocolate Chip Pancakes

*Yawn*

Sunday morning, stretching. As strange dreams involving a predicament of sanity fade into the safe recesses of my mind, the distant rumbling of a waking insolent stomach interrupts the introspective stare at the inner walls of my eyelids. Eventually, the escapades of the previous night fade away with a whimper. But after such a deep slumber, there is only one who can reach a long skinny hand into the depth of my mind and yank open the shades, forcing my eyes to adjust to the rare English sun streaming in through my windows.

I was hoping to sleep just for one more hour, but alas they have forced my hand, prodding me with an awake stick. I know I must wake, I must appease them, I must give myself to their biddings.

The Pancake Gods.

Now surrendered to consciousness, all I can do is offer up a sacrifice consisting of one cup of flour, one tablespoon of baking powder, one tablespoon of sugar, one tablespoon of vanilla sugar (optional), half a teaspoon of salt, one egg, one cup of milk, and some chocolate chips. Perhaps I can appease the Pancake Gods after all, for I happen to know that all these things lie about in various shapes in my kitchen.

I start by ceremonially breaking the egg into a bowl.

The Pancake Gods like their pancakes to be as fluffy as the fur on the lower back of the great Garslfaard, and the only way to achieve this is by giving the egg a good beating. Michael Jackson told you to beat it, beat it. No one wants to be defeated, showin' how funky and strong is your fight. It doesn't matter who's wrong or right. Just beat it, beat it. Beat it until it foams up, then it has learnt its lesson and will diligently fluff up the pancakes.

Now carefully pour in the cup of milk, and the mixture should remain frothy.

Now, in a separate bowl - not the one with the eggs and milk - add your flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and the vanilla sugar (if you want).

And mix them all up until you get a proper homogeneous mixture.

We're almost ready to make pancakes! Carefully pour the milk/eggs mixture into the bowl with the dry, powdery stuff, while mixing it in. Keep mixing them together until the batter is smooth. If you like, you can add some vanilla essence at this stage. You should still see bubbles in the mixture. If you don't, then keep beating the batter ... the more you beat, the fluffier your pancakes will be.

Some people like to add chocolate chips; I just break milk chocolate into bits. Do whatever you want, its a free country. But the Pancake Gods will judge you.

Finally, ready for the pan. Ready a flat pan on medium-low heat and lightly grease it with oil. Pour a small amount of batter into the pan. While there is no rule on how large or small your pancake should be; remember that it is easier to flip small pancakes.

How do you know when to flip the pancake? Check the edges. You will notice the edges change colour (or change color if you're in America) when they are ready to be flipped.

Notice all those bubbles? We're going to be offering up some very fluffy pancakes to the Pancake Gods; yes, we might appease them after all. So when the edges start to change, flip the pancake!

This side should take no more than a minute. By now, the batter is solid, so you can check to make sure it is nicely browned.

I keep my pancakes in an oven on very low heat while I make all of them, so that when served they are still warm.

Also, to appease the Pancake Gods, I served my pancakes with bacon. And then offered up some jam, maple syrup or Nutella.

Now that the Pancake Gods have been appeased, we can go back to bed.

*Yawn*

As with all the other recipes we put on this site, this is meant to be easy to follow. We are hobby chefs who love to cook, and we are always up for learning new techniques. If you know of anything in this recipe which can be done a different way, whether for increased ease of preparation or better taste, please add a comment below!

Whipped up by Shyamal Addanki