(American) Protein and fiber-rich Pancakes

This recipe makes 3 large pancakes or 6 smaller once. These days I typically do the smaller ones as they cook a little bit better.

#Instructions

• Grind the chia seeds enough to open up.
• In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together.
• Mix in the milk, egg, and quark and mix until there are no dry spots left. Avoid overmixing.
• Add the dark chocolate chips and mix gently until they are distributed evenly. (I typically start a pot of coffee and start making my daughters banana pancakes right around here.)
• Let the batter sit for about 10 minutes or until your patience runs out.
• Heat up a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and let it get evenly hot.
• Once hot, add a bit of butter or cooking spray (I don’t care about the calories here, but if you do use cooking spray) and cook your pancakes.
• You’ll want to flip the pancakes when the bottom looks like it’s starting to settle. Note: you won’t get the bubbles that typically indicate time to flip as these are more dense than typical pancakes. I often flip them two to three times to make sure they are fully cooked. A raw center is not pleasant.

#Notes

I’m using a mortar and pestle to grind the chia seeds, it works really well and takes like ten seconds. When I tried using our food processor, it just spun the chia seeds around in a cool looking vortex but didn’t actually grind them. Visually cool, but not useful in my case. Maybe yours is better?

The chia seeds don’t have to be a fine powder, they just have to “open up” a little bit so that they don’t take over the texture.