Mint Chocolate Chip Blender Pancakes
Growing up, we hosted and attended a ton of sleepovers. Doesn’t every young girl? Ahhhh, memories. I’m pretty sure my house was known as the “fun pancake house.” In the mornings when my mom would hear us stirring, she would knock on our door and when we granted her access, she would poke her head in and ask us what color pancakes we wanted that day. What color pancakes?! This really blew the minds of my tiny little friends every single time. That we were able to dictate what color pancakes we would be eating that day was such a huge deal to us. We would tell my mom our color choice, and she would head back to the kitchen and achieve our request thanks to the little food coloring bottles that, as we now know, are absolutely terrible for us. But that was the 90’s when life was just good all around and we didn’t know any better. Well THESE pancakes here today are my little trip down memory lane. And you know that they include no artificial food coloring whatsoever. In fact, they are dyed green for St. Patrick’s Day with a completely natural ingredient, and it’s a hidden vegetable in these pancakes to boot! Do you know what it is? I guess you’ll just have to keep reading!
A couple of weeks back I tried to make a fun new recipe with St. Patrick’s Day in mind. I attempted a no churn, vegan, mint chocolate chip ice cream. Delicious in theory, but the end result was pretty abysmal. It tasted okay, but it was not scoopable AT ALL. I don’t waste food though, so I ate the entire loaf pan of rock hard “ice cream.” Every night after dinner for a few nights I would take that glass loaf pan out of my freezer and put it on my counter, and then I’d walk away and forget about it for an hour. After the hour was up, I would take a knife to the “ice cream” and chisel off that night’s serving. I’m honestly glad it’s over. The chocolate was good, anyway.
To make that ice cream, I bought a TON of fresh mint. Well, not a ton. I bought 2.5 ounces of fresh mint, to be exact. That sounds like nothing, I know, but it might as well be an actual ton because 2.5 ounces of mint turns out to be a lot of mint! Food blogger problems. So I had a bunch left over and I was wondering what in the heck I should do with it. I still wanted to do something St. Patrick’s Day themed, so I thought, why not breakfast? I don’t often eat breakfast, but when I do, I make it COUNT. I mean, have you seen these sweet stacks?
Years ago, Mike gifted me a Blendtec blender for Christmas. I’ve used it here and there, but I honestly didn’t realize what I had until I made these pancakes. And yes I’m embarrassed to admit this. I built my pancake base all up in my blender and then I pressed that sweet little “batter” button to mix up my flapjacks just perfectly! I really think that had a lot to do with why these pancakes came out so darn good. I’ve made a lot of gluten free / paleo pancakes in my day, and I have to say, these are by far the best! Make them up for St. Patrick’s Day this week and sneak some extra greens into that body of yours! It’s probably about the least you can do while also simultaneously filling it up with sugar. Hey, we all need to treat ourselves from time to time, right? Holidays are the perfect time for that!
Mint Chocolate Chip Blender Pancakes
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add the almond milk, melted butter, vanilla extract, maple syrup, spinach, and mint leaves to a high speed blender and blend 15-20 seconds until combined completely. Add the baking soda, cream of tartar, sea salt, tapioca flour, and 1 cup of almond flour. Blend 15-20 seconds until combined and the batter appears smooth and no more green specs are evident. Add in another cup of almond flour and the 3 eggs. Blend 15-20 seconds more until combined, thick, and smooth.
- Place a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Melt about ½ tbsp of butter. When the skillet is hot and coated with butter, pour the pancake batter into the pan forming cakes (pancakes should be ¼ – ⅓ cup in size), being careful not to crowd the pan. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips onto each cake. After 2-3 minutes, the edges will set and bubbles will start to form all over the top of the pancake. Use a spatula to carefully flip the pancake. Cook about 1 minute more and remove to a plate. Repeat until all the batter is gone. You should yield 14-16 pancakes.
- Serve hot topped with butter and/or maple syrup if desired and enjoy!
