Week 14 - Peppermint Bark Pancakes

One gift I have received for Christmas for the past several years is peppermint bark.  My Mom and I discovered it years ago at Williams-Sonoma, where they were handing out samples.  Ever since then, we always make sure to have some this time of year.  Recently in one of my cooking magazines, I saw a copycat recipe for WS's Peppermint Bark, did you know WS didn't start making it until 1999?  Yeah, I thought it had been around a lot longer than that, but I guess not. 

I thought I'd take a stab at making a pancake version of this Christmas-time treat.  I saw some recipes online where people just added crushed peppermint bark to plain pancake batter, but I didn't think the peppermint candy would do so well in the batter and on a hot griddle.  It would probably just melt and then harden, making really crunchy pancakes.  Instead, I made up my own version by adding a little bit of peppermint extract and milk and white chocolate chips.  It turned out pretty tasty and found that the melted chocolate chips give just a little bit of crunch to the pancakes once the chips harden again.  All in all, not too bad and fairly simple to make.  Jó étvágyat!

 

PEPPERMINT BARK PANCAKES:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix 
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• handful of milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk the egg whites until light and frothy.  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter, then mix in the milk (this time I tried whisking the egg whites alone to see if there was a difference, couldn't tell, but then again I had nothing to compare it to.  I see another blind taste test in our future).
2. Combine the milk mixture with the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.  Gently mix in the white and milk chocolate chips and peppermint extract.
3. Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.
4. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)
5. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.
6. Serve immediately with syrup or chocolate syrup (I used syrup left over from the S'mores pancakes).