Guinness Dark Chocolate Pancakes Recipe

Chocolate + Guinness + Brunch = A great start to the weekend! My chocolate Guinness pancakes are a decadent treat filled with 2 types of chocolate and rich Guinness flavor.

Open up a bottle of Guinness and let's get to it! My Guinness pancakes came into being after I made a Guinness Chocolate Cake and had some extra Guinness left over (don't worry, the recipe for my Guinness Chocolate Cake will be up on the blog soon)! Made with organic cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips, these pancakes are basically dessert for breakfast...oops!

The recipe calls for a set of dry ingredients and a set of wet ingredients. For the dry ingredients, you'll need: All - Purpose Flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, dark chocolate chips, white and brown sugar, and salt. For the wet ingredients you'll need: vanilla extract, 1 egg (separated), Guinness, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and melted butter. I provide a range of how much chocolate chips could be used, depending on how chocolaty you want your pancakes to be: 3/4 for a "lightly chocolaty" pancake and 1 cup (or more...) for full chocolate indulgence!

From my ingredients, I want you to notice that I use both 1 separated egg (yolk and egg white) and buttermilk - these are the keys to this recipe! The egg white will be used whisked to form whipped to stiff peaks. But why for pancakes? The air incorporated into the whipped egg whites creates the lovely height we see in the pancakes and the addition of buttermilk adds the great texture and flavor we love in traditional American style pancakes.

Recipe: Guinness Dark Chocolate Pancakes

Estimated Time: 30-40 minutes

Feeds: 2-3 people

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups All Purpose Flour

• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¾ - 1 cup dark chocolate chips, coarsely chopped

• ½ teaspoons salt

• 3 tablespoons white sugar

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

Wet Ingredients

• 1 egg, separated

• ⅔ cup Guinness

• ¾ cup buttermilk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Topping Ideas

• Vanilla Greek Yogurt or whipped cream

• Fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.)

• Dark chocolate chips

• Maple agave syrup or Maple syrup

Directions

1. In a medium sized bowl, use a fork or whisk to mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips together. Using a fine sieve, sift the cocoa powder into the flour mixture and mix together until the cocoa powder is evenly distributed.

2. Over two small bowls, separate the egg yolk and the egg white into 2 separate bowls.

3. In a large measuring cup or medium sized microwave safe bowl, combine the buttermilk, Guinness, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until the sugars dissolve. Add the melted butter to the Guinness mixture and whisk to combine. If at this stage, the mixture starts to seize and pockets of solidified butter form, place the mixture in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and whisk again to combine, at which point the butter should have melted and a smooth liquid remains.

4. When a smooth liquid forms, whisk in the egg yolk. Then, add the Guinness mixture to the dry ingredients by whisking gently. There should be some small pockets of flour remaining in the batter and the batter should NOT be completely smooth! These small pockets of flour add height to the pancakes!

5. In a separate bowl, use either an electric whisk, stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or a wire whisk to whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. The egg whites are ready when the bowl is lifted upside down and the egg whites stay in shape, and don’t slide down the sides of the bowl! The egg whites should be tripled in size, glossy, and hold their form.

6. Using a rubber spatula, gently divide the whipped egg whites into 4 pieces. Adding one section at a time, fold the egg whites together with the chocolate Guinness batter in 4 batches. The batter should double in volume and be thick and fluffy in texture.

7. In a nonstick pan or griddle, melt 1 pat of butter per pancake over medium-low heat. When butter is melted, measure out ½ cup pancake batter into the melted butter. Pancakes should cook approximately 1-2 minutes per side. Pancakes are ready to flip unto the other side when the edges have browned in color and air bubbles have formed on the surface of the pancakes. After flipping, let pancakes cook for at least 1 minute or until fully cooked. Place cooked pancakes on a separate plate until all are complete.

8. To serve, stack the pancakes, add a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt or whipped cream, fresh berries, and a drizzle of maple agave syrup or quality maple syrup on top. Enjoy!