LOVE and CHOCOLATE is (still) in the air!

Why not surprise your Valentine after Valentine’s Day with a chocolate inspired breakfast?

Unsweetened cocoa powder is a low calorie, superbly heart-healthy ingredient that you can add to many breakfast dishes such as oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, smoothies, scones, and muffins.

Start the morning off warming the heart with cocoa’s flavanoids and antioxidants by devouring this week’s warm guilt-free chocolate recipe, Cocoa Pancakes with homemade chocolate syrup.

This recipe contains zero cholesterol, hence it helps bring cholesterol down.

Heart healthy recipe of Cocoa Pancakes with Chocolate Syrup

Budget friendly canola oil is another heart healthy substitute for butter and margarine, in addition to extra virgin olive oil, without a distinct taste to spoil the secret that your pancakes are actually healthy!

Yield: 10 servings
(1 serving = 1 pancake = 1/4 cup of batter with 1 Tablespoon of chocolate syrup)

Ingredients:
Pancake Mix:

• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ cup plain unsweetened soymilk (or almond milk)
• ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/3  cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup canola oil
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Syrup

• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 1/8 plain unsweetened soymilk (or almond milk)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Optional: Confectioner’s sugar for dusting final product

Directions:
Pancakes:
In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and let mixture stand for 10 minutes. In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda and set aside. In another small bowl, combine the cocoa powder and chocolate chips and add ¼ cup of boiling water. Mix chocolate mixture until a smooth consistency (add more boiling water as needed).

Whisk the soy milk mixture into the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the brown sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Slowly, whisk in the flour mixture. Heat a large greased skillet on medium (lightly with canola oil). Cook pancakes until the pancake batter is not gooey and the both sides of the pancakes are slightly dark brown.

Chocolate Syrup:
In a small pot, whisk together cocoa powder, maple syrup, soy milk, and vanilla over medium until a smooth consistency. Keep the syrup warm until the pancakes are ready to be served with a drizzle of chocolate syrup!

Optional: Dust each pancake with confectioner’s sugar.

* You can use this pancake batter to make waffles as well!

Nutrition Information Per Serving:

Plain cocoa pancake:
Calories: 164 kcal, Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Carbohydrate: 23 g Dietary Fiber: 4g, Protein: 3g, Sodium: 68 mg

Chocolate Syrup (1 Tablespoon):
Calories: 27 kcal, Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Carbohydrate: 7 g Dietary Fiber: 1g, Protein: 1g, Sodium: 2 mg