Jellybean Pancakes

When I first announced my intent to make jellybean pancakes, I was widely ridiculed. But these pancakes came out amazing, so I guess I proved everyone wrong!

I love jellybeans. I always forget about them until around Easter, then I eat so many I feel sick.
I used Starburst jellybeans. My original intent was to crush them up a lot then add them to the batter almost like sprinkles. But turns out Starburst jellybeans are pretty much indestructible. I smashed them with a lot of heavy objects, but only managed to crush a few. So I ended up adding them pretty much whole.

I was a little worried the jellybeans would stick to the pan. Although they did melt a little, the melted sugar came right off.

The recipe I used promised super fluffy pancakes, which is what I wanted so that the jellybeans wouldn't stick out too much. And boy, they were fluffy. I cut the amount of recommended sugar in half since I figured the jellybeans were sweet enough.
They did stick together once I stacked them, but were so delicious.

The pancakes themselves were fluffy and light, and the jellybeans added a burst of flavor and chewiness. They almost force you to eat slower because you have to chew more, which heightens your appreciation of the flavors.

Maybe I should leave some of these out for the Easter bunny...

Jellybean Pancakes Makes 5 small thick pancakes  1 cup all-purpose flour 1.5 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 egg 3/4 cup jellybeans, slightly smashed Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, and butter then pour into dry mixture Add jellybeans and stir Cook on a hot buttered frying pan - about 1/3 cup batter per pancake (batter will be very thick!) I would recommend soaking your dishes right away after you are done cooking to get rid of any stickiness!

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I decided to celebrate with green pancakes. I have a surplus of green food dye from last St. Patrick's Day, for some reason...

I made the pancakes at Ellen's apartment, but I had to go to work first, so I mixed all the dry ingredients in the morning and put them in a plastic bag. I also threw the dye and the extracts in my bag. I think some leaked, because today I ate an apple that was also in my backpack and it tasted strangely minty. 

The recipe I based this off was for mint chocolate chip pancakes, but I didn't have mint extract. They were all sold out at the store too! So I just stole some of Natalie's peppermint, leftover from Christmas baking. 

I was kind of tired after work, so I just threw all the wet ingredients on top of the dry and mashed them around with a spoon. 

I substituted plain yogurt for buttermilk (partially because buttermilk was too hard to find in the store, partially because whenever I buy it I never use the whole thing). But then the batter was too thick, so we poured in some milk until it was the right consistency. 

Green soup! 

They were nice and fluffy.

And they smelled just like mint chocolate chip ice cream!

We ate them for dinner with vanilla ice cream.

The peppermint flavor was very strong, but not in a bad way. Although highly reminiscent of shots of peppermint schnapps with chocolate syrup.

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Pancakes Adapted from Epicurious  Makes 9-10 medium pancakes  1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup plain yogurt 1/2 cup milk 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract 4 drops green food dye 1 cup chocolate chips Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl Add in wet ingredients and stir Stir in chocolate chips Cook over medium heat (I used about 1/2 cup of batter per pancake) Serve with vanilla ice cream :)