The temperatures dropped into the low 20’s overnight, so when we woke up this morning, our usual coffee routine just wasn’t enough. We needed something special, something to warm us up, something like pancakes! Not just any pancakes would do though. They needed to be special and iHop’s chocolate pancakes immediately came to mind. My husband loves those pancakes. We rarely go to the iHop, but when we do, he doesn’t even need to glance at the menu. He orders those chocolate pancakes and cleans that plate like a professional, so I wanted to recreate something similar for him and I believe that these triple chocolate pancakes did just that.
If you love chocolate, you should try these as soon as possible. They are sweet, but not too sweet with layers of chocolate flavor. I also made a chocolate espresso whipped cream to top them with and not only was it perfect with these pancakes, but it would be great with fruit, on a cupcake or in your afternoon coffee.
This recipe whips up pretty quickly, so lets get it started! In a large bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. I have been on a major black cocoa powder kick lately, so I used 1/8 of a cup of the black cocoa powder and 1/8 of a cup of regular old unsweetened cocoa powder. You can use all unsweetened cocoa powder or special dark cocoa powder or treat yourself to a bag of black cocoa powder and become obsessed like I am…
Whisk your dry ingredients together and set it off to the side. In a smaller bowl, add two eggs, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1 1/8 cup of whole milk, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and whisk everything together until fully combined. Then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and then begin whisking until everything is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure that you leave any dry ingredients behind.
Your batter should be dark and smooth. You can add the chocolate chips at this point or you can sprinkle a few over the batter of each pancake before you flip them. These pancakes are so decadent and delicious that even if you wanted to omit the chocolate chips altogether, you will still absolutely love them. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips today, but any chocolate chips or chunks would work fine.
Place a flat skillet over medium heat and let it preheat.
You can grease the hot skillet with non-stick cooking spray or by rubbing the end of a stick of butter over the surface. Then grab a 1/4 measuring cup and pour the batter onto the skillet being sure to keep an inch or so between each pancake. You will know that they are ready to flip when you see little bubbles forming over the surface of the pancakes. Flip them over and cook for about 60 seconds or so. They usually cook about 70% of the way through on the first side, so you only need to lightly finish them on the other side.
As if there isn’t enough chocolate in the pancakes themselves, you can also make this incredible chocolate espresso whipped cream to top them with. Even though it is more chocolate, it is not too much. The cool whipped cream just works with the warm pancakes and removes the need for maple syrup. I dressed our plates up with a little drizzle of chocolate syrup, but this is just to make things pretty. Pretty food is good food, so drizzle that chocolate and make the whipped cream and you can thank me later…
Triple Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
Double Chocolate Pancakes
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/8 cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
Chocolate Espresso Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
Instructions
- Combine flour, cocoa powders, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
- Whisk together eggs, sugar, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract in a medium bowl
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until fully incorporated
- Fold in the milk chocolate chips
- Place a flat skillet over medium heat
- When the skillet is preheated, grease with butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray
- Using a 1/4 measuring cup, add batter to the skillet and cook until small bubbles form over the top of the pancake
- Flip over and cook for another 60 seconds or until the other side of the pancake is cooked
- For the topping, whip heavy cream, sugar, cocoa and espresso in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy
- Garnish pancakes with some of the espresso chocolate whipped cream
- Enjoy!
