Valentine’s Chocolate Chip Heart Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce

For Valentine’s Day the past couple years, I’ve made heart-shaped chocolate chip pancakes. First of all, their incredibly cute, and it somehow seems very fitting to have something with chocolate in it for breakfast (or maybe this is just my excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast…).
This year, I made them extra special by making a delicious raspberry sauce to go on them. The combination of chocolate and raspberries is wonderful, and this is a great treat for your family on Valentine’s Day morning.

 You can buy heart-shaped pancakes molds like these at some stores. They’re great because they have little handles on them. You can also use cookie cutters but just make sure they’re metal. Plastic cookie cutters will probably melt, and no, your family does not want to eat pancakes with a partially gooey plastic crust. No matter how cute they are.
Whichever you chose, make sure you spray them well with non-stick cooking spray before each pancake, and try not to fill them too full (like I did in this picture), or they’ll overflow. They’ll puff up as they cook, so pour in just enough pancake batter to   touch all the sides of the mold.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

(serves 4 – 6)

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 6 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/4 c. milk (if the batter is too thick, add a little more milk until it’s the consistency you want)
• 2 eggs
• 4 1/2 Tbsp. melted butter or oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 – 2 c. chocolate chips (depending on how chocolatey you want your pancakes)

1. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium – medium-high heat.
2. Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Mix the milk eggs, oil/butter, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix.
5. Add chocolate chips and mix.
6. Spray or butter skillet and heart mold well. Place mold on skillet. Pour just enough batter into the mold so that it’s touching all sides of the mold.
7. Cook until browned on one side (3 – 5 min.). Gently slide a turner under the pancake and mold. Gently pull off the mold (if it sticks, use a knife to slide around the sides of the mold), and flip the pancake.
8. Cook on the remaining side until browned (3 – 5 min.).
9. Repeat will remaining batter. Serve with raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

(makes 1 cup/enough for 5 – 6 peoples’ pancakes)

• 1 (12 oz.) bag frozen raspberries
• 1/2 tsp. sucanat or sugar
• 1/4 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. maple syrup

1. The night before you want to use the sauce, take the raspberries out of the freezer, pour them into a wire mesh colander placed over a bowl, and let the raspberries thaw and the juice drain into the bowl overnight.
2. The next morning, using a spoon, gently mush the raspberries into the colander getting as much of the juice out as you can. Discard the leftover pulp.
3. If you have seeds in the juice, strain it.
4. Combine the juice, sucanat, and lemon juice. Heat them briefly on the stove, or microwave for about 30 seconds, just until the sugar completely dissolves.
5. Add the maple syrup.
6. Serve with pancakes, waffles, ice cream, or your favorite dessert. Can be refrigerated for a week.