Mini Chocolate Chip Pancakes

This is your basic pancake recipe; the only difference is my choice of using almond essence as a flavoring instead of vanilla extract or spice. The pancakes my mom made at home always had the almond essence, so that is the flavor I grew up with. It was late afternoon, not morning, when I made these. I added chocolate chips and made them small so they were more like a sweet snack than breakfast. You can use this same recipe and omit the chocolate chips for plain pancakes, or add different ingredients like blueberries or mashed bananas to make other kinds of pancakes.

Ingredients:
     1 cup of all-purpose flour 
     1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
     2 tablespoons of white sugar
     pinch of salt
     1 egg
     5 oz (almost 3/4 cup) of milk
     1/4 teaspoon of almond essence 
     handful of chocolate chips (optional)
     butter or margarine for greasing the pan

(Note: This recipe makes 10-12 mini pancakes, double the recipe to make larger pancakes or more servings.)

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Sifting makes it easier to whisk the batter and prevents too many lumps from forming. Add the sugar and salt, and mix. Add the egg, almond essence, and most of the milk. Whisk together until a smooth batter forms. Add the rest of the milk or more, if necessary, to create a batter that is thin enough to drop but not too watery. 

Before adding the milk

Batter after whisking

Heat a frying pan or griddle on medium heat, and grease with butter. Use a ladle to drop batter onto the pan in an amount according to how large you want the pancakes to be. Use the back of the ladle to spread the batter in a circular shape. Drop some chocolate chips onto each of the wet pancakes. Let them cook until bubbles start to form, and then flip. 

Pancakes ready to be flipped

Check to see when they can easily slide around the pan and the other side has turned golden brown. Remove the pancakes and place on a paper towel-lined plate, and continue until you have used up all of the batter. You can keep the pancakes warm in the oven at 175F if you are making a big batch. Enjoy!