Nothing says romance like whipped cream on the sheets.
Why not celebrate Valentine's Day with the one meal that it's perfectly acceptable to eat in bed-breakfast. Sure, you could plan a quiet dinner at ***image2***home instead of a dinner out, but who wants to slurp fettuccine Alfredo from a plate resting on his lap? Or tear into steak and mashed potatoes on a teetering bed tray? Yes, you'll have to get up a little early to make these pancakes, but when they're ready you can leave the forks in the kitchen and eat them with your hands. Just pour yourselves two tall glasses of milk and start feeding each other on the pillows. Go ahead, get crumbs all over the sheets. Let a little whipped cream fly. Shove the dirty dishes under the nightstand and get crazy!
Double Chocolate Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce and Chocolate Whipped Cream
Did your mom ever put chocolate chips in your pancakes? Did she make little smiley faces with the chips or spell out I LOVE YOU over one giant pancake? Oh, she probably cut the crusts off your bologna sandwiches too, you spoiled little brats! Well, these chocolate pancakes are better than mom's plain old chocolate-chip cakes, even if they don't have little hearts and flowers in them. See, this batter is chocolaty, too. Mom never did that, did she? Who loves you now?
Mmm-hmm
. That's right.
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup milk, plain yogurt or cottage cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons for cooking
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1) In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wire whisk, stir the ingredients together until combined.
2) Break the egg into another bowl and stir it around a little with the whisk. Add the milk, butter and vanilla, whisking gently. Add the chocolate chips.
3) Add the milk mixture to the flour bowl, stirring to combine. Don't worry about breaking up all of the lumps. Some of those lumps are chocolate chips, anyway.
4) Turn the oven on to low and put an oven-proof plate on the middle rack.
5) Heat up a cast-iron griddle or large non-stick pan over a medium flame. Melt a little bit of butter in the pan and swirl it all around. Pour batter into the pan using a big spoon or small measuring cup (I like 1/3 cup), to make pancakes whatever size you like. Cook for a couple of minutes on the first side, until you see little bubbles appear in the surface. Flip and cook another minute or so. Repeat until you have enough cakes or you finish the batter.
6) As your pancakes finish cooking, transfer them to the plate in the warm oven.
7) Serve the warm pancakes with plenty of chocolate sauce and chocolate whipped cream (recipes below).
Low-Fat Chocolate Sauce
***image1***Kidding! This ooey-gooey super rich goop may have less fat than a bucket of lard, but it isn't on any diet plan. In fact, your arteries are hardening just reading this recipe. Every time you open up the fridge and stick a spoon into the Tupperware container of hardened leftover sauce you're taking a year off of your life. But, like everything else that's bad for you, this stuff is totally addictive. Don't say we didn't warn you.
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1) In a small saucepan on the stovetop, heat the cream until it just begins to bubble at the edges and sizzle against the sizes of the pan.
2) Put the chocolate chips in a small bowl and pour the cream over them. Stir to combine and pour over pancakes or use as a dipping sauce.
Chocolate Whipped Cream
You can add cocoa powder to whipping cream and it will give a mild chocolate flavor, but the texture tends to be a little dusty. Plus, who wants to eat whipped cream the color of baby poop? The better idea is to splurge on a bottle of chocolate liqueur. Use some for the whipped cream and the rest for choco-tinis or whatever.
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Godiva chocolate liqueur
In a large mixing bowl, beat cream, sugar, vanilla and liqueur until soft peaks form. Chill the whipped cream until you're ready to use it.
