Coconut Chocolate Chip Pancakes

 

Gary was so excited when I made this! He actually woke up saying “Pancakes!” I bet he was dreaming about this all night too! He loved this more than I did of course, since he loves coconut so much.

I have a love/hate relationship with coconut. I swear I’m not a coconut fan, but there’s no shortage of my favorite recipes filled with coconut on this blog. Gary, however, is a huge fan of coconut, whether it is the flakes or milk. His favorite ice creams are made with coconut milk. I guess my hate relationship with coconut is the smell. Sometimes, the smell is really off putting to me. It reminds me of the days when I was a teenager in the crowded, hot subway cars heading to school. Many of the old women on the train used a coconut oil based hair product that DID NOT mix well with heat and sweat!

So, when I popped open the can of coconut and scooped out the coconut oil for this recipe, I took a walk down memory lane…somewhere I didn’t want to go. I really wanted to like this recipe, so I kept on going through it. Luckily, once the pancakes cooked, there were no more remnants of the smell  that I despise so much. Since most of my favorite coconut recipes involve chocolate, I decided to add chocolate chips to the pancakes. This was a great decision on my part! It tasted much better with the chocolate, and what’s wrong with chocolate for breakfast?

I used unsweetened coconut flakes for this. I recommend using the unsweetened, but if you can’t find it, I would probably omit the sugar altogether. The chocolate addition also adds a little bit of sweetness, as does the maple syrup.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Pancakes
adapted from: about.com

 printable recipe

ingredients:
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 eggs
1 1/2 TBSP white sugar
2 Tbsp. coconut oil OR butter, melted
1 tsp. coconut flavoring (optional) (I did not use)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

directions:
In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the can of coconut milk with the shredded coconut. Set aside.

In a small bowl, melt butter in the microwave. In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sugar then melted butter to the eggs and whisk again until light and fluffy.

Add the egg mixture to the coconut milk mixture, stirring well to combine. Also add the coconut flavoring (if using).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet coconut-egg mixture to the dry flour mixture, stirring well to combine.

On a preheated griddle, scoop out 1/4 cup batter with a ladle. Pour batter on the griddle. Use the back of the ladle to spread the batter. When the surface around is covered with bubbles, add a few chocolate chips on each pancake, flip and cook the other side. Transfer pancakes to a plate, cover to keep warm. Continue to cook the remaining batter until it’s all used up. Serve with maple syrup.

Makes about 12 pancakes.