Vegan Vanilla and Chocolate Pancake Cereal 

I don't know about you, but I am always drooling over other people's food photos on Instagram.  One of the latest crazes that caught my eye was the pancake cereal I have seen a few people make.  I love pancakes, so it looked like it was right up my alley!  I was also kind of in the mood for doing something that would keep me occupied for a while on my day off, so it was perfect!  They are a bit tedious to make, but it is so worth it, trust me on this one!  Everyone else I have seen just made classic pancakes, but I thought they would be even more amazing if I did both chocolate and vanilla!  Because why not?!

I am one of those people that likes to go the extra mile with things most of the time. I used my classic pancake batter as the base.  When I made normal sized pancakes they get nice and fluffy, so I thought it would work well here.  Plus it is just sweet enough, and tastes like the pancakes I loved growing up, but without all of the eggs and milk since these are vegan.  The batter is super simple to make, you just whisk it all together and Ta Da!! You are ready to make some!

I mixed cacao powder into half of the batter to create the chocolate flavored ones.  Then came the tedious part.  Since these are mini pancakes and I don't have some sort of contraption to distribute dots onto the pan, I placed the batter in a pastry bad, and piped it onto the griddle.  They cook up nice and fast! At first tried to flip a whole bunch with one giant spatula, which worked but they stuck together a bit.  So I used an offset spatula I normally use for cake decorating to flip a few at a time and it was perfect!

They turned out so cute!  This recipe makes about 4 servings worth.  You could put them in a bowl and pour maple syrup over them, or you could go cereal style like I did and go for the oat milk.  Or of course feel free to add your favorite things to them, like say chocolate chips or berries, or even whipped cream maybe?  Why not?  The possibilities are endless!  The next time you have a little time on your hands and want to make something fun, give these a try!  They are sooo good!

Vegan Vanilla and Chocolate Pancake Cereal 
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups oatmilk
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp cacao powder

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine all pancake ingredients (except the cacao powder) and process until just blended (alternatively you can whisk it if you don't have a food processor), divide between 2 bowls, and whisk the cacao powder into one of them.
2. Place the vanilla batter into a pastry bag, and the chocolate batter into a separate one (or if you don't have pastry bags, ziplock bags with the corner cut off with work well too).
3. To cook pancakes, heat a large ceramic non-stick* pan over medium heat. Once hot, pipe 1/2 inch round pancakes onto the pan (I did about 15 each time), and let cook until the bottoms are done for about 2-3 minutes on the first side until set and starting to brown, then flip with a small offset spatula (or a spatula if you don't mind them sticking together a little), and cook another minute or so on the other side.
4. When cooked, place on a plate and keep warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining pancakes and chocolate batter.
5. To serve, place in a bowl and add your favorite add ins!  I poured oat milk over them!

*Notes:

If you want these to be gluten free, use Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten free baking flour in place of the whole wheat pastry. I have tested this one and know it works well.

If you do not own a non-stick pan, you may need to lightly oil your pan to prevent sticking, if you do not mind these not being oil free.