White Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes

Since Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend this year, why not start off your day with these delectable White Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes?

My husband is out of town for work right now so I’m spending Valentine’s Day with my littler love, my toddler son, who is a huge pancake fan. For awhile IHOP was one of his favorite restaurants, so I had the opportunity to check out their menu on many occasions. The last time we ate there I tried the white chocolate raspberry pancakes. They were tasty but super sweet and a bit artificial. I knew I could do it better!

I made a raspberry puree using frozen raspberries, not in any kind of sugar or syrup, since I knew the white chocolate would make the pancakes sweet enough for breakfast. To add to the festivities, I made the pancakes heart-shaped. To do this, I placed a metal heart-shaped cookie cutter, about 5 inches in diameter on my griddle. I poured about 1/4 cup of batter into the cookie cutter and spread it around evenly. When it was time to flip the pancakes, I left the cookie cutter in place to ensure the batter did not spread outside the boundaries of the heart. After flipping I gently pushed down the pancake to ensure it was in contact with the griddle. Toward the end of cooking each pancake I carefully removed the cookie cutter. My son was so delighted by the heart shaped pancakes. He told his daddy on Skype “I’m eating heart shaped pancakes for breakfast!” Aw! If you don’t have heart shaped cookie cutters, though, the round pancakes were just as yummy!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your loved ones! I hope you enjoy these beautiful and delicious White Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes as much as we did!

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White Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes

Yield: 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk (any kind is fine)

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter (unsalted)

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup frozen raspberries

fresh raspberries for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in the milk, egg, and butter and whisk together until fully combined. The batter may remain a little lumpy. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
2. Heat your pancake griddle on high (I have the Cuisinart Griddler and heated mine to 425F).
3. For heart-shaped pancakes, place a metal cookie cutter onto the griddle and fill with about 1/4 cup of batter. Let cook until bubbly and golden brown on the bottom, then flip, keeping the cookie cutter in place. Gently push down the pancake to ensure it remains in contact with the griddle. When nearly done, carefully remove the cookie cutter.
4. For round pancakes, drop 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the griddle. Let cook until bubbly and golden brown on the bottom, the flip and continue cooking until golden on both sides.
5. Meanwhile, for the raspberry sauce, place the frozen raspberries into a small saucepan on the stove on medium. Cook until warm and slightly reduced, so the fruit becomes more of a sauce.
6. Top the pancakes with raspberry sauce, garnish with fresh raspberries if desired, and serve right away.

Note: if you like a lot of sauce on your pancakes, you may want to increase the frozen raspberries to 2 cups.

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Tagged: heart, kid friendly, pancakes, raspberry, Valentine, white chocolate