Sorry for the short blogging hiatus. We were in Colorado all last week hiking, riding 4-wheelers through the mountains and fishing. It was great! I love being outside! But, as you know, with vacationing comes less than healthy eating. So time to get back on track!! That being said, lets dig into something chocolatey!

I love these pancakes. I am not vegan, but I think I could try it out if it meant I would eat these everyday. They provide the perfect naughty sweetness of chocolate chip pancakes, but then you remember they're loaded with oats and flax and all those good things (fiber anyone?!) and they're actually pretty healthy! Win win!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Prep: 5 min. | Cook: 5 min. | Total Time: 10 min. | 5 Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
1 tsp. baking powder
1 flax egg ***
pinch salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. almond butter
1 tbsp. canola oil (or coconut oil)
3 tbsp. almond milk (or other milk)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat a skillet to medium heat. Prepare flax egg by mixing 1 tbsp flaxseed meal and 2 1/2 tbsp water and let sit 3-5 minutes. Mash the ripe banana with baking powder. Add flax egg, oil, salt, vanilla, almond butter, almond milk and stir. Stir in oats and flour until just combined. Sprinkle in chocolate chips and fold gently. Scoop scant 1/4 cup measurements of mixture onto lightly greased skillet. Cook 2-4 minutes on each side until golden brown. Serve plain or with a drizzle of maple syrup.


**Did the flax egg thing throw you? Yea me too. This recipe is from a site completely dedicated to vegan eating, meaning no animals products, meaning no eggs. Even without the egg, these pancakes are perfectly fluffy and delicious. So try out the flax egg. It's super easy to make. You just combine the flaxseed meal with some water and let it sit a few minutes. Done.

When I made these for myself I didn't need any syrup, they were sweet enough with just a couple more chocolate chips on top. Another side note, I didn't have almond butter when I made these so I used the natural peanut butter I had and it worked perfectly. I also used quick oats instead of rolled oats. Try these, they're amazing!!

Recipe adapted from here.