My daughter asked me to make her something pretty one Saturday morning close to Valentine’s Day and I came up with this lovely concoction. Deeply infused layers of chocolate offset by the brightness of raspberries? Both to the palate and the eyes, this dish is a treasure. I will warn you, it took hours to make and she won’t stop asking me to make it again, so be careful who you serve this to. They will be repeat customers.

Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes with Chocolate Ganache

Equipment

• Medium-sized cookie cutter, in any shape you prefer
• Cast Iron or non-stick skillet
• Small sauce pan

Ingredients

For the pancakes:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup *regular* cocoa powder
6 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
3/4 cups whole milk

For the ganache:
1/2 cup whole milk
5 oz semi-sweet, finely chopped chocolate
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

To plate:
1/4 cup fresh raspberries
Powdered Sugar

Preparation

For the pancakes:

• In a large bowl, sift together the flower, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. (What is sifting?)
• In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, melted butter, and the milk.
• Once you have both the dry and wet ingredients prepped, mix the liquid ingredients in and stir the batter until it is moistened and lumpy.
• Heat your non-stick or Cast Iron Skillet to medium heat.
• Grease the pan with a liberal amount of butter.
• Place your cookie cutter onto the skillet and pour the batter in. The batter is very thick and will form a dense cake. You will need to go medium heat and babysit it as this much thicker cake batter will take about 4-5 minutes to cook. Poke it occasionally to test if the batter is cooked through. When you are getting fairly clean pokes with the fork, gently slide the spatula underneath and flip the whole thing over, cookie cutter included, to keep the shape. Cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. You don’t want to burn it. The end result should poke clean, but be a decadent, gooey end result when you actually dig in.
• When finished, transfer to a plate to let it cool.

For the granache:

• In a small sauce pan, heat the 1/2 cup of milk, the 5 ounces of finely chopped, semi-sweet chocolate, and 1 tsp of vanilla. Whisk over lower heat until the sauce is smooth.

To plate:

• Place the pancake on the plate and pour the chocolate sauce over the cake. If you want to get creative, you can drizzle the sauce on the plate as well.
• Arrange the raspberries on the plate next to the pancake.
• Sprinkle powdered sugar over the whole dish and serve.

Nom your besotted, fussy-patns on!

~Love, Crunchy