Perfectly Portioned Pancakes

What are your thoughts on breakfast? If you're anything like me, it's your favorite meal of the day. I mean, breakfast is so versatile! It can be sweet; it can be savory; you can even have it for dinner on occasion. What could be better?

Sometimes after one of those weeks--those weeks when your train breaks down, everything at work that has been running late suddenly gets back on schedule all at the same time, and you feel under the weather to boot--you just want to wake up on Saturday, when the weekend is finally here, and treat yourself to a yummy breakfast. But I bet you're a good person. And when the thing you really, really want is pancakes, you say to yourself, "Oh, no, I shouldn't make pancakes. A whole batch? And only me around to eat them? No, that would be wasteful."

Well, kids, thanks to the always ingenious stylings of Joy the Baker (and a little freestyling on my part), that is no longer an issue.

I found this recipe on Joy's site a few months ago and nearly jumped for joy. "The Single Lady Pancake"? Perfect! (Okay, granted, I'm not really a "single lady," but I think you could substitute "single-portion" and infer the same thing. It just sounds a whole lot less cool.)

This pancake is even better because you can totally convince yourself that it is healthy...and then add chocolate. Just look at these ingredients: whole wheat flour, skim milk, oats--oats! Things that have oats are always healthy. Like oatmeal raisin cookies. True fact.

But you don't want to be too healthy. Cocoa powder and chocolate chips fix that, I promise.

The Perfect Single-Portion Pancake
Adapted from Joy the Baker's Single Lady Pancake

Ingredients:
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tablespoon dried oats (I used the regular kind, but you could also use quick-cooking. I like the texture that the whole oats give in each bite, but that might not be for everyone.)
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp milk (I used skim, since that was all I had)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Small handful semisweet chocolate chips

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

 2. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, vanilla extract, and milk.

Again, do not laugh at my old-school alphabet bowls.

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips. The batter will be fairly thick.
4. Heat a small griddle or frying pan over low heat and grease with a pat of butter. Pour pancake batter in a round. Let one side cook just until bubbles begin to form--it's hard to tell when one side of the pancake is done; the batter is so thick that it takes longer than usual for the bubbling to begin. At least for me, as soon as I saw them start to take shape, it was time to flip.

5. Flip and cook the other side of your pancake.
6. Remove from pan and repeat the process with any leftover pancake batter (my mix made two medium-sized pancakes, about five inches across).
7. Top with powdered sugar, maple syrup, or whatever your breakfast-loving heart desires!

Make these for yourself. Love yourself. Remember that you are awesome and that sometimes breakfast really can make everything better. And then call me up and make some pancakes for me, too. K? Thanks.

Links in this post:
http://www.joythebaker.com