Chocolate Dot Pancakes

These chocolate chip pancakes are small, sweet, and meant to be stacked with a scoop of soft vanilla ice cream or whipped cream sandwiched between two warm cakes. It’s half breakfast, half dessert, and completely worth it.

The batter comes together in minutes using pancake mix, an egg, milk, sugar, and a generous handful of chocolate chips. Drop them by the heaping tablespoon for silver-dollar sized rounds that cook fast and stay thick enough to hold their filling. Wait for bubbles to appear across the surface before flipping.

The chocolate chips melt into gooey pockets inside the pancake while the outside stays golden and slightly crisp from the griddle. Sandwich them warm so the ice cream just barely starts to soften.

Kitchen Tips

• Keep the pancakes small. Heaping tablespoon-sized portions give you the right thickness for sandwiching without flopping over.
• Don’t overmix the batter. A few lumps are fine and keep the pancakes tender instead of tough.
• Heat the griddle to medium. Too hot and the outside burns before the chips melt through; too low and you get pale, flat cakes.
• Let the ice cream soften slightly before scooping. Rock-hard ice cream will squish the pancakes flat.

Variations

• Peanut butter drizzle: Warm 2 tablespoons peanut butter with a splash of milk and drizzle over the stack.
• S’mores pancakes: Add mini marshmallows to the batter alongside the chips and serve with graham cracker crumbs on top.
• Banana split style: Layer sliced bananas and strawberries with the ice cream between the cakes.