Double chocolate pancakes with chickpea and chestnut flour
With a chocolate ganache birthday cake and chocolate cupcakes to hand out at school, my youngest’s birthday has been filled with all things chocolatey. And what better way to start a day like that than with chocolate pancakes?
Recently, I’ve come to the state of luxury in which, if anyone wants pancakes for breakfast, my eldest starts rummaging through the flour drawer and sets about testing new flour and flavour combinations. The beautiful stack in the picture was her birthday breakfast treat for her little sis and would make a perfect start of any day, because they’re not only delicious, but also highly nutritious and ready in minutes.
These double chocolate pancakes are flavoured with a generous dose of cacao and chocolate chips, plus a spoonful of cookie mixed spice, since we’re approaching the festive season. In The Netherlands commercial cookie spice mixes are sold for traditional festive baking, which pair wonderfully with chocolate. I’m not sure if comparable mixes are available outside The Netherlands (or are us Dutch maybe not as original as we think?), but in case they’re not, they’re easily replaced by a dash each of nutmeg, ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and coriander – or, if you’re feeling easy-going while mixing the batter, just a dash of cinnamon.
As for the flour base, you can make these pancakes using regular white wheat flour, or a mixture of just any flours you have at hand. We used a mixture of chickpea flour, brown rice flour and chestnut flour, which makes them gluten free, considerably ups the nutritional value and fibre content and gives them a pleasant, slightly sweet flavour. The fun alliterating name – chocolate chip chickpea and chestnut pancakes – is just an added bonus 🙂
Happy breakfast baking!
Double chocolate pancakes with chickpea and chestnut flour – makes about 12
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. linseeds to make 1 flax egg, or 1 egg
- 100 g chickpea flour
- 50 g brown rice flour
- 50 g chestnut flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder or raw cacao
- 1 tsp. mixed cookie spices. Alternatively, you can add a pinch each of nutmeg, ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and coriander, or simply a dash of cinnamon.
- pinch of salt
- 300 ml almond milk or other milk of choice
- a handful of chopped chocolate, chocolate chips or cacao nibs
- maple syrup, banana slices and seasonal fresh fruit, for serving
Preparation
For vegan pancakes, start by preparing the flax egg. Crush the linseeds in a mortar and transfer them to a bowl. Mix in 2½ tbsp. of water and set aside. After 5-10 minutes the seeds and water will have thickened to an egg-white-like consistency. For non-vegan pancakes, you can use a regular egg instead.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, cacao, spices and salt. Whisk together the milk and the egg/flax egg and gradually add this to the flour mixture. Stir until you have a smooth batter, then fold in the chocolate chips.
Brush a frying pan with a little oil and heat over a medium heat. Pour three spoonfuls of batter into the pan and let them run into three little pancakes. Turn the pancakes when bubbles appear on the surface; then bake for another minute or so until browned on each side. Repeat with the remaining batter.
Enjoy straight from the pan, topped with maple syrup, banana slices and seasonal fruits.
