Oat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

I'm pretty shocked that I went almost an entire month without posting another pancake or waffle recipe. We have them at least once a week in our house and I don't mind a bit when I have to work on recipe development for them. These are made with oat flour, rolled oats, and oat milk - perfect for a rotation diet on oat day!

I'm always a big fan of using oat flour in baking - whether it's in something as simple as pancakes or even muffins and cakes. I find that it gives the baked good more flavor and a little sweetness that I'm looking for because the gluten-free flour blends can often have a bland or earthy taste. Because oat flour quickly absorbs any liquid you pair with it, I rarely use only oat flour in a recipe, but when I do it works perfectly for our rotations and it sure does add some good flavor. These pancakes can manage with only oat flour and rolled oats because they do not need to rise too much and hold a lot of weight.

Something you should know about our family - we add chocolate chips to everything. There's really nothing that doesn't taste better when you add chocolate to it, and it's a must for Hudson. We use Enjoy Life chocolate chips to keep it dairy and soy free, and I like to use the mini ones for just about everything. I love that you can find them almost anywhere these days. I've seen them at Sprouts, Ralphs, Target, and Walmart in our area, and I've even ordered them from Amazon before, especially for the holiday-specific varieties.

These pancakes will only take a few minutes to put together, but make sure you let the batter sit for about 5 minutes before putting them on the stove - it's an essential step to thicken the batter (think oatmeal) and end up with thick pancakes!

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10-15 minutes Yields: about 10 medium pancakes

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups oat flour

1/2 cup whole rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cane sugar

1 cup oat milk (any plant milk will work)

1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax seed + 3 Tbsp water)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp chocolate chips

1 tsp avocado oil (any neutral oil will work)

1. In a medium bowl mix the oat flour, rolled oats, baking soda, and sugar together.

2. In a small bowl stir the oat milk, flax egg, lemon juice, and vanilla until combined and flax egg is well-dispersed.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

4. Add chocolate chips and stir again. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow batter to thicken.

5. Heat non-stick pan over medium heat. Add oil and spread in pan to prevent pancakes from sticking.

6. When pan is hot turn heat down to medium-low and add batter to pan. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until bubbles start appearing on pancake surface. Flip pancakes and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes.

7. Transfer to plate and keep warm or serve immediately.

Recipe Notes:

1. Any plant milk or cow's milk (if there is no milk allergy) can be substituted for the oat milk.

2. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point can be used instead of avocado oil.

3. The cane sugar can be subbed for coconut sugar if you are looking for an unrefined sugar. I don't recommend using a liquid sweetener like agave or maple because it will make the pancakes too dense.

4. These freeze well and can be reheated in the microwave or the toaster. After cooking, cool on cooling rack to prevent them for getting soggy on the bottom. Transfer to an air-tight container or zip-top bag with parchment paper in between each pancake to prevent sticking after freezing.

5. The chocolate chips can be swapped out for any add-in such as blueberries, bananas, or raspberries, or left out entirely.