Chocolate chip pancakes

There’s always that first pancake.

The one that never quite turns out right…a little too pale, slightly overdone, or flipped just a second too soon. It’s almost expected at this point—a quiet, unspoken part of the process that people everywhere seem to recognise. So much so that it has inspired the phrase 'pancake jam' in Roller Derby - the first round of play where everything inevitably goes wrong!

Some say it’s the pan warming up, others blame impatience. Either way, the first pancake has become its own small tradition. You make it, you learn from it, and then you carry on.

By the second or third, something clicks. The heat is right, the timing feels natural, and the stack begins to come together the way you imagined.

Maybe that’s part of why pancakes feel so comforting. They don’t ask for perfection straight away…just a bit of patience, and a willingness to try again.

Read on to find out how you can make fluffy chocolate chip pancakes!

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Ingredients:

• 3 cups plain flour

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 3 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ½ tsp salt

• 3 cups milk

• 3 eggs

• 4 tbsp melted butter/vegetable oil

• 1 tsp vanilla - optional

• Chocolate chips - as many as you want!

Method:

• Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

• Mix wet ingredients: In another bowl whisk milk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla.

• Combine: Pour the wet mix into the dry and gently mix until just combined. Small lumps are GOOD. Do not over-mix.

• Rest (important for thickness): Let the batter sit for 5–10 minutes. It will thicken slightly.

• Cook:

  • Heat a pan and melt a spot of butter in it.

  • Pour about ¼ cup of the pancake batter into the pan.

  • Sprinkle chocolate chips over the batter.

  • Cook until bubbles form and edges look set (about 2–3 mins).

  • Flip and cook another 1–2 mins.