Brinner!

Wellllll, it's spring break.  Which means I get to drink coffee with my Mother every morning, hang out with my dog, go for long runs in the 70 degree weather, cook in my favorite kitchen and eat meals with my family.  It doesn't take much to make me happy.  On Wednesday, I told my mom I had a new pancake recipe I wanted to try.  Every once and a while, we like to have breakfast for dinner (or as some call it, BRINNER) and Wednesday happened to be one of those evenings.  I found this recipe for sweet potato pancakes and was instantly intrigued.  I'm not talking about potato pancakes, like the kind you smother in ketchup. I'm talking about the kind you usually top with syrup and eat with a side of bacon.  I think my family was somewhat skeptical as I mixed up this orange pancake batter with Ghirardelli chocolate chips in it.

Truth is, I was a bit skeptical myself until we ate the ENTIRE batch of these pancakes immediately after they came off the griddle.  I don't think they lasted more than ten minutes.  There was just something about them...I can't really pinpoint what, that made them truly delicious.  During brinner, we all tried to figure out what made these griddle cakes so wonderful.   We think it may have been the texture, but we are still uncertain.  Looks like you will just have to make them to understand what I am talking about.

As far as pancakes go, these were relatively healthy. The original recipe calls for half whole wheat and half regular flour, I used gluten free flour.  There was no added oil or butter in the batter and only 2 table spoons of brown sugar (only 1 if you make a single batch, I doubled the recipe).  I can't forget about the semi-sweet chocolate chips that added a boost of antioxidants.  Of course, we topped these with pure maple syrup made by one of my mother's friends. Which reminds me-it is officially maple syrup season and I am dying to learn more about the process.  I hope to spend some time at a maple syrup shack this spring and will let you know all about it if I get the chance.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Pancakes (www.eatliverun.com)
Ingredients:
1/2 large sweet potato, baked then mashed with a fork
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup (heaping) dark chocolate chips
butter to grease skillet
maple syrup for serving

**To make these pancakes gluten free, substitute 1 cup of Pamela's Baking Mix for the flour and do not add baking powder, as there are leavening agents in Pamela's. 

Directions: Grease a large skillet with butter and head over medium high heat. Combine all ingredients, mixing JUST UNTIL COMBINED and drop by quarter cups onto hot skillet. Cook for about two minutes each side then serve with warm maple syrup.