It’s an unseasonably mild October afternoon and you’re expecting some bad news, but instead you’re given good news – well, not good but better than expected at least. That only calls for one thing – celebratory pancakes for dinner!
What is it about having breakfast for dinner (or “brinner”, as my friends on Scrubs call it) that makes it taste so much better? Maybe it’s because it feels like you’re being naughty? Or maybe it’s just because breakfast food is the best type of food, so eating it for dinner is like double the treat! These chocolate chip cake batter pancakes were the perfect celebratory “brinner”, they’re so fluffy and soft it’s like eating a cloud! A buttery, chocolate chip loaded cloud!
Of course, these pancakes would also be delicious for breakfast. I can’t think of a better way to start your day than a plate piled high with fluffy, yummy goodness – what can go wrong after this sweet wake up call? In fact, your day can only be perfect after starting it with such amazing pancakes – Next thing you know your boss is calling you into their office and giving you that promotion you had your eye on, you found a twenty in the pocket of that coat you’ve not worn since last winter, the cute barista at your favourite coffee place asks you on a date – the possibilities are endless with these pancakes!*
*Disclaimer: Giraffes Can Bake accepts no responsibility if none of these good things happen to you after you eat these pancakes – but what have you got to lose, right? 😉 (I’ll take a high five if they do though).
The pancakes are nice and easy to whip up too. First let me tell you that the buttermilk is important, if a recipe calls for buttermilk 9 times out of 10 you don’t want to be substituting it for any other kind of milk – you need the buttermilk or your pancakes aren’t going to be fluffy and tender. If you can’t get your hands on buttermilk all is not lost, it’s easy to make your own. Just add 2 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring jug, fill up to 500ml/2 cups with milk, leave it to stand for 5 or so minutes and use as directed in the recipe. The rumour on the grapevine is that you can achieve the same result with dairy free milk alternatives, I’ve not tried it myself so can’t vouch for it but my source is Joy The Baker so it looks pretty good for you vegans and dairy allergic/intolerant people! Pancakes for everybody*, yay! (*you will need to substitute the butter for a dairy free alternative and egg substitute if you’re vegan, but I’m afraid I will have to leave that in somebody else’s more capable hands!). Wow, can you believe I just rambled on for that long about buttermilk? It’s an important subject! The rest of the ingredients and process require much less explanation – just whisk the wet ingredients up, whisk in the dry, stir in the chocolate chips and get cooking those pancakes on your griddle. Okay, here’s another picture to apologise for all these wordy words!
As you may be able to tell, my pancake shaping leaves a lot of be desired – I don’t know if there’s a special trick to getting perfectly round pancakes or everybody else just uses one of those egg rings. But it’s the taste that counts, and the imperfection just add charm right? Right?! Well, whatever your opinion on that matter I can tell you that I did not care about the odd shapes when I was eating them up. And neither did the kitten…
You turn your back for 10 minutes to take photos and a kitten pops up and munches on your reject pancakes! Her name is Elsa by the way, she’s a cute little thing but a sneaky one too!
Don’t worry though, both Elsa and I saved enough pancakes to bring along to Fiesta Friday this week! And of course extra for our wonderful co-hosts this week Margy and Jhuls
I’d love to see you on social media, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Bloglovin’
Okay, I promise I’ll stop teasing you soon and give you the recipe but if I can just hold your attention for another minute! Today is October 31st (Happy Halloween everybody – if you want a more festive treat today why not try these cute Spider-Man Toffee Apples or this healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie) which means it’s the last day of Lupus Awareness Month and the end of my giveaway, the winner has been announced on the post 🙂
(It’s also my baby sister’s birthday today, happy birthday Kady!)
Today’s Lupus Fact (click photo for info):
Okay, recipe time!


- 290g plain flour
- 70g caster sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 280ml buttermilk
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for greasing pan)
- 200g semi sweet chocolate chips
- Maple syrup to serve (optional)
- Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl, lightly whisk to get rid of lumps and combine. Set aside
- In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and almond extract to combine. Whisk in melted butter (make sure it's not still hot, warm is okay).
- Pour the egg mix into the dry ingredients and gently whisk to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and gently fold into the batter with a spatula until evenly dispersed.
- Heat a griddle (or frying pan) over a medium heat, melt butter to coat. Once hot, spoon pancake batter onto the griddle (a large ice cream scoop is ideal for this, about 1/4 cup per pancake. Cook for about 1 minute, until you see the edges start to cook up. Flip pancake and cook on the other side until cooked through - another 1-2 minutes. Repeat until all pancakes are cooked (re-coating the griddle with more butter between pancakes). Keep cooked pancakes in a warm oven to stop them getting cold while you cook remaining.
- Serve pancakes with lots of maple syrup
- Serve pancakes immediately
- Or freeze for up to two months.
Sharing with….
Foodie Fridays, Fiesta Friday, Let’s Get Real Party, Super Saturdays, Show Me Saturday, Scraptastic Saturdays, Bewitchin’ Projects, Inspiration Monday, Frugal Crafty Home, Motivation Monday, Time to Sparkle, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Project Parade, Inspire Me Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Best Recipes of 2014: Breakfast
Oh Yum, like giant cake like choco chip cookies. Decadent!
Haha yes, exactly! Thank you 😀
Yum! I am pretty sure my kids would be super excited to see this on the breakfast table! I’ll be sharing on my Facebook page Saturday morning!
Thank you Michelle! x
These sound so good and look so fluffy and delicious! And awesome coincidence, I have a Tortoise Shell cat, too. Elsa is so CUTE! 🙂
Thank you Katie 🙂 Aww torties are the best aren’t they! x
Breakfast for dinner is a big hot at our house. We have to do it at least once every other week. This pancakes would be devoured here. You’re recipe is great. I found you on Foodie Friends. I’d love for you to share this with us at the Let’s Get Real party at http://littlefamilyadventure.com/lets-get-real-link-party63/
I think everybody should have breakfast for dinner every once in a while! Thanks for stopping by, I’ll check out the Let’s Get Real Party now 🙂 x
These pancakes sound absolutely incredible – and look even better! Pinning 🙂
Thank you Nicola 😀
A family member just loves these kind of pancakes – the more chips the better 🙂
“The more chips the better” how did you know my motto? 😉 haha x
Breakfast for dinner for the win!
Haha I thought you might approve of that!
you are seriously naughty that you have those for breakfast!!!
Haha, a little naughty is good sometimes!!
These look amazing!! I might have to make these for brunch this weekend now! :)This is why I love #Foodie Fridays! Always making me hungry and making me try awesome stuff!
My mother is lactose intolerant, and I’ve subbed lactose free milk with lemon and Soy milk with lemon as buttermilk for different recipes! So far – the differences are minimal!! 🙂 Though it probably depends on the recipe too…
Thanks Dini! I love finding new recipes to try on #FoodieFridays too, the only problem is finding the time to try all of them haha!
I imagine it will work in most cases with dairy free milk, as it’s the acidity you need most! If you do try this recipe with a dairy free milk, do let me know how it turns out!
I could jump right through the screen and take a big ole bite of those pancakes dripping in syrup. You can turn your back and I will just move Elsa over and take her reject. I don’t care. Deliciously gorgeous!
Haha, I’m sure Elsa will happily share! Thank you Julie 😀
Whether baked treats or pancakes, you always make them perfectly. Thanks for the pancakes, Michelle. Happy FF! <3
Thank you so much Jhuls 😀 Happy FF to you too
Yum!! These sound fantastic! And thank you for sharing how to make your own buttermilk. I have stopped buying it and always make my own now.
Pinning! (and here from #FoodieFridays!)
Thank you Jenny! I have to admit, I do sometimes still buy my own if I’m going to use it all, but it is so easy to make yourself there’s no need! Happy #FoodieFridays! x
When my girls visit home, their favorite food for breakfast is “CCP’s” aka chocolate chip pancakes. Yours is a decadent version of CCP’s, I’ll have to treat them to this the next time they visit 🙂 Gorgeous!
Aww, I hope they like them! Thanks for stopping by Loretta 😀 x
We love pancakes! Chocolate Chip are my sons favorite. Yours look so wonderful. I am ready for some Saturday morning breakfast right now! 🙂
Thank you! You can have saturday morning breakfast a few hours early, I won’t judge 😉
These look wicked good Michelle! And I can imagine good things happening after starting my day with these lovelies! Thanks for sharing, going back to drooling now 😀
Thank you Naina! x
Glad you had good news instead of the bad ones you were expecting! I’m totally with you about pancake, I’ve recently admitted (to myself) that I’m a proud pancakeacholic! Thanks a lot for being with us at FF!
The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem – although I don’t think this is a problem you want to recover from haha! Happy FF! x
oh yummy! I believe I just got a craving for pancakes, I can eat these for dinner right?
Definitely, in fact pancakes are best served for dinner!
A family favorite with my boys!
Chocolate chips are always a winner!
These look awesome! They’d be a huge hit in our house 🙂
Thank you! Definitely a good family treat!
I wish I could just dig into it right now !! They look, oh so fabulous !! 🙂
Thank you! xx
Your pictures of the pancakes are amazing!! Happy Birthday to your little sister as well! 🙂
Aw thank you so much! x
Yum! I love chocolate chip pancakes and so does the rest of my family. Thanks for sharing and thanks for linking up for Scraptastic Saturdays. This post will be shared via FB/Twitter/Pinterest. Have a wonderful day. Hope to see you Saturday.
Thank you! These would definitely go down well in your house then 😀 x
Looks so yummy!
Thank you!
Yum! This looks delicious and amazing! And totally easy! I am soooo making this tonight!
Thank you, I hope you like them!!
we do love our celebratory chocolate pancakes for dinner – look so good
Thank you!
Oh wow! That looks (almost) too good, Michelle!
I don’t even know how many of them I could eat 😮
I surprised myself with how many I managed to eat in one go haha! Thank you Sarah
Thank you for posting on Motivation Monday!