Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pancakes  

They taste like little morsels of heaven. To be more accurate, they taste like the Quaker oatmeal chocolate chip muffin mix you used to buy as a kid. I don't know if you did that, but I did... regularly. They were an addiction for me to the point where my mom would get mad at me. I would make them and eat all of them in one go. Fast forward to adult maturity; who ever would have thought that I would find a recipe to make them into a healthier, pancake version? Thank you, Minimalist Baker. You are a true gem for opening my eyes to this recipe. I've made a few little tweaks to show you how I like them, so here they are. Enjoy them, like I know you will.

                         Feeds 1                     

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg (you can leave it out if you're vegan)
• pinch salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon hazelnut butter (or preferred nut butter)
• 1 Tablespoon sunflower oil
• 1/4 cup (or more) almond/coconut milk
• 1/2 cup rolled oats 
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• Chocolate chips to taste.

1. Mash your banana, then beat the egg into the mixture (if you are adding an egg). Add vanilla, hazelnut butter, oil and milk and whisk well.

2. Heat a skillet on medium, and lightly coat it with sunflower oil or any other oil you have on hand.

2. Mix all dry ingredients well in a small bowl, then add to the wet mixture and stir well. Make sure that the mixture is not too thick, or else you will have a difficult time getting the inside to cook. You can slowly add in more milk to fix this, if it becomes an issue.

3. Lastly, scoop small portions of the mix onto the skillet. Flip when bubbles start to form throughout, and the edges look like they are almost cooked. Check the thickest pancake for doneness by making a tiny slice just to the center. If batter flows out, you may need to cook the pancake a bit longer.

Recipe adapted from minimalistbaker.com