Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I think I've stressed before that pancakes are a fifth food group for me. I LOVE them, and since I'm always switching up the ingredients, flavors, and toppings, they never get old. This particular pancake recipe is very super lazy, weekday morning pancakes. You know, for those days were it's chilly outside and you want something a little more substantial, and a little out of the ordinary.

The batter is made up the night before, that way all you have to do in the morning is heat up a pan and cook yourself up a batch. In fact, you don't even have to make them all at once. You can just cook what you want and put the rest back in the fridge.

Another time saver is to use already-prepared pancake mix, but since you're making them the night before, it's up to you.

I prefer to add my chocolate chips to the pancakes as they're baking (like in the picture below), but you can also stir them into the batter the night before. This is what is directed in the recipe. I just didn't want them to be too rich, because I still planned on topping them with some Earth Balance and real maple syrup!

Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Pancakes:
1 1/3 c. buckwheat pancake mix (I used Arrowhead Mills)
2/3 c. almond milk

2/3 c. water

4 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 c. chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, combine the pancake mix, almond milk, water, brown sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips. Stir well to combine, cover, then place in the fridge overnight.

2. The next morning, add some more water or almond milk to get the water to your desired pancake consistency (less water equals thicker pancakes, more water equals thinner ones).

3. In a skillet sprayed with nonstick, place about 1/4 c. batter onto the skillet. If you decided not to stir the chocolate chips into the batter the night before, you can sprinkle them onto the pancake like so:

My pancakes are better than your Golden Grahams, biatch.

Don't worry, they won't make your skillet all chocolatey. Once the edges become dry and there are bubbles in the center of the pancake, flip them and allow them to cook on the other side for a couple more minutes.
4. You can either respray the skillet with nonstick and keep going, or you can place the batter in the fridge and come back to it later. It's up to you!

I like these served traditionally, with vegan butter, syrup, and a hot cup of coffee. After having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, I'm totally ready for the long day ahead!

A note: you can use this method with pretty much any pancake recipe, though depending on the ingredients some will come out more spongy (such as ones with buttermilk), or thinner. You don't need an egg for this recipe (or practically ever for pancakes), but if you wanted to add an "egg" made out of mashed banana which would actually be really tasty in this recipe, I would add it that morning. I assume it would get all brown in the fridge overnight (but I could be wrong!).