Chocolate Coconut Pancakes

My original plan was to share with you, my readers, the exciting events and exotic foods of the Berkeley International Food Festival. The event was nothing to write home about, so I found something that was – my homemade dark chocolate and coconut pancakes with real organic maple syrup. 

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman. They woke up one morning to growling stomachs, aching for pancakes. Why resist, they thought, as they skipped down the stairs to ready their morning meal. Uh oh, we are out of pancake mix, whatever shall we do? I guess we’ll have eggs, the women said. The man hung his head in utter disappointment.

Sound familiar (aside from the skipping maybe)? Do you know how easy it is to make pancakes from scratch? All you need is flour, baking powder and milk. It takes maybe five minutes longer than the bottled stuff. And I say "stuff" because that's what it is. Read the ingredient's from Aunt Jemima's complete pancake mix:

ENRICHED BLEACHED FLOUR (BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, LEAVENING (SODIUM BICARBONATE, SODIUM ALUMINUM PHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), DEXTROSE, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL WITH MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, NONFAT DRY MILK, SALT, DRIED WHOLE EGGS, CALCIUM CARBONATE, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, SOY LECITHIN, CORN STARCH, SODIUM CASEINATE, CULTURED WHEY, SOYBEAN OIL, CARRAGEENAN, WHEAT GLUTEN, GUAR GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR.

Seriously? I don't know about you, but corn syrup solids and defatted soy flour do not pair well with my morning coffee. These pancakes are a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour, coconut milk and dagoba semi-sweet dark chocolate. Switching to homemade pancakes is an easy way to incorporate natural, whole foods into your diet. I believe it was Michael Pollan who said you should not eat anything that wasn't around at the time of your great-great grandparents. Do you think they poured pancakes out of an offensive red plastic bottle?

Ingredients for Chocolate Coconut Pancakes

1 cup organic all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
2 organic eggs
1 tablespoon melted and cooled butter
1 3/4 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped dark, semi-sweet chocolate

Sift together the flours and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar. Pour the coconut milk into a smaller bowl, and beat in the eggs. Stir in the melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and add the chopped chocolate. Gently stir. Only mix together until just combined. The batter should be pourable. If not, add a little more coconut milk.

Heat up a cast iron skillet or griddle for about 5 minutes before you add the batter. Ladle the batter into the skillet and let cook for about 2-3 minutes. The sides will lightly brown, and the center will start to bubble. Flip to cook the other side. The pancake will fall apart if it's not cooked long enough, so if that happens, you'll know for the next one. Cook for 1-2 more minutes on the other side. Keep pancakes warm in the oven (200F) while you cook the remaining batter. Serve with maple syrup - the real stuff, don't skimp. Serve with fresh nectarines

Where I Shopped:

Dagoba chocolate: Monterey Market, Berkeley

Organic flours and real maple syrup: Whole Foods, Berkeley

Coconut milk: Yasai Market on College Ave., Oakland

Nectarines: Old Oakland farmers' market