Schanck Family Tollhouse Pancakes

Who says you can't have cookies for breakfast?

When I grew up, my sister Emily turned me on the the concept of M&M pancakes. It seemed that the only time we were allowed to have them when one of her friends would spend the night.

As a parent, I was sure to introduce these to my kids right from the start.  For us, Saturday morning is pancakes.  And since pancakes are a pretty simple endeavor, I wanted to learn to make them from scratch.  Armed with my wife's Better Homes New Cook Book, I learned pretty much the standard for pancakes.  Sometimes, if we were out of M&M's, we would use chocolate chips instead.  Other times we experimented with Reece's Pieces, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips.

And then this idea came to me...I bet there is a recipe somewhere for Toll House Pancakes.  I Googled around and could come up with nothing.   So I thought, how do I make a real recipe for these?  I basically wanted to have Toll House cookies for breakfast, but how was I going to get away with it?  So I looked at the Toll House cookie recipe, and then I looked at the Better Homes pancake recipe...hmm.  What if?

To make a long story short, I merged these recipes back and forth until I came up with a great recipe incorporating the flavors of the Tollhouse cookie recipe with the basic chemistry of the pancake recipe.  Now, whenever one of our kids has a friend over to spend the night, they are introduced to the Schanck Family Tollhouse Pancake Recipe.

Here is a comparison of the original recipes:

Nestle Toll House Cookies           BH&G Pancakes

2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour              1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tsp baking soda                         2 Tsp baking powder

¾ cup granulated sugar                1 Tbsp granulated sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar         

1 Tsp salt                                      ¼ Tsp salt

2 large eggs                                  1 egg

1 cup butter                                   1 cup milk

1 Tsp vanilla extract                      2 Tbsp cooking oil

Thus, the experimentation began.  The main differences were in the leavening agent (baking soda vs. baking powder), the fat (butter vs. milk and oil), the flavoring (vanilla), and then pure quantities of everything.

Since I was essentially making a pancake recipe, I used the BH&G one as my baseline and reached into the Toll House recipe for adaptation.  My kids and wife were the testers.  After months of going back and forth, I ended up with this recipe.  Once you have seen both recipes, it does not look so impressive, but it was the tinkering that made us find the right mix.  I even tried different kinds of flours..like high-gluten to see what would happen.  Since our family is moving towards whole foods, I was trying to improve the basic ingredients as well.  The beauty of this is that it divides the recipe into dry and wet ingredients, so that you can divide the responsibility of the kids helping.  (In our family, the wet ingredients are cooler, because you can crack eggs.)

Schanck Family Tollhouse Pancakes

Ingredients:

Dry
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp light brown sugar
4 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp teaspoons salt

Wet
2 egg yolks (beaten)
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not imitation)

Secret
2 egg whites
1/4 Tsp Cream of Tartar
Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsels

Other Ingredients for table:
Salted Butter (room temperature is best)
Syrup

Instructions:

Preheat skillet to 325 degrees.  (If you are making a larger batch, or are not serving the pancakes immediately, preheat oven to 150 degrees and place oven safe plate in oven.)

Separate eggs.  (It is ideal to let egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes so that they will beat up higher and faster than cold egg whites.)

In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients (EXCEPT Cream of Tartar and chocolate chips).

In a different mixing bowl, mix egg yolks, milk, oil, and vanilla.

In yet another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy.  Add cream of tartar.   Beat until stiff peaks.

Fold egg white mixture into wet bowl.

Add wet to dry, all at once.

Stir slowly till blended, but not too much...lumpy is ok.  Let batter sit for a few minutes to absorb moisture.

Using 1/3 cup measure, scoop batter and pour onto hot, oiled skillet (I use Pam Canola on an electric skillet).


Hand place morsels into pancakes.  (We put between 7 and 10 on each pancake...depending on who gets this job.  (Faces and words are better.)


Almost ready to flip...wait...wait...wait...OK, FLIP!

When craters form, flip.

When second side is light brown, remove from skillet.

Place on warmed plate in oven until ready to serve.

Serve with (room temperature) butter and syrup.

Now, smile.

I dare you to try this for three weeks in a row in your family.  I bet you will find that you have created an untouchable family tradition.    If I dare make something different on a Saturday morning...well, you can guess what would happen...