We’re here today to challenge all your expectations – starting with the shape of pancakes. Sure, we always thought that pancakes had to be round in order to truly be a pancake, but then we came across this recipe in the New York Times. Baking pancakes, and having them come out square, was a new idea to us, but it was intriguing enough to convince us to try it out. And we loved it! These come out fluffy and filled with chocolate, and they’re pretty easy too because unlike regular pancakes, there’s no need to cook just a few pancakes at a time and carefully flip them and watch them on the stove so they turn out right. Instead, these cook up in the oven, so you can just bake and go. It’s a simple recipe for breakfast, or for any time of the day (we ended up having these for dinner one night, paired with the local maple syrup we got from our recent trip to New Hampshire). We’ll show you how we made this recipe our own, so read ahead!
You’ll need:
- 1 1/2 sticks of butter
- Cooking spray
- Milk
- Buttermilk
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Chocolate chips
- Maple syrup
To make the batter, first measure out 3 cups of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, a tablespoon of baking powder, a teaspoon of baking soda, and a large pinch of salt into a food processor. Briefly combine all these ingredients together, then take a cold stick of butter and cut it into small cubes. Add these to the food processor and mix until everything comes together into something that looks like wet sand. Place this mixture in a large bowl, then in a separate bowl stir together 1 1/2 cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk and whisk this into the flour until you have a smooth batter. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes, and while you’re waiting coat a 13-inch x 18-inch baking pan in cooking spray and cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit the pan and lay it inside. Take 2 tablespoons of butter and place it onto the parchment paper, then put the pan in the oven for 2 minutes at 450°F, until the butter is melted. Tilt the pan around to spread the butter evenly, then quickly whisk your batter once more, pour it in the pan, and spread it evenly in the pan with a spatula.
Measure out 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and scatter them over the top of the batter.
Bake the pancakes for 15 minutes until they puff up and brown a little on the edges …
… then turn your oven’s broiler on low and stick the pan back into the oven for 2 minutes to brown on top, watching carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn.
Once the pancakes cool a little, cut them into 16 squares and serve them up with syrup and more butter.
We know these don’t look like traditional pancakes, but they were a good variation – as you can see, they’re nice and airy on the inside but a little crispy on the edges, with chocolate scattered all through each pancake. And since it’s really only a matter of measuring, mixing, and pouring to make these pancakes, they’re a super easy meal at any time of the day. We enjoyed trying a new way to cook pancakes, and these were great to chow down on these for dinner, so follow our lead and give these a try.