Let’s get one thing straight. These pancakes may be healthier than they actually appear, but they aren’t health food. So put away your calorie rulers and speculative eye and let’s get on with this dang thing.
What we have here is peanut butter cup-inspired pancakes. Then we put an actual homemade peanut butter cup on top and eat the whole stack, because life is short and we love chocolate, peanut butter and breakfast. What more explanation do you need?
This recipe is gluten free and vegan but can be customized to suit your needs and preferences. Oat flour and my go-to GF flour blend keep the gluten devils at bay, but I honestly think all purpose or whole wheat pastry would make these a tad bit fluffier.
If you don’t want a flax egg, don’t know what it is, or simply don’t believe in it (like John), omit it and use a chicken egg instead. This is your pancake arena, rule it how you will.
Now, onto more important things: what do they taste like?
The pancakes themselves aren’t overly sweet but have the perfect hint of chocolate and peanut butter. The outer ring is infused with cocoa powder, and the inner ring is all about the peanut butter.
Because these are gluten free they don’t take on that traditional “fluffy” pancake texture, but if you’ve been around here long enough you know I’m OK with that. In fact, I almost prefer a thick, dense, fudgy pancake. There’s a time and a place for fluffy pancakes. This is not it.
Can we just talk about how insanely sexy these pancakes are!? You MUST, and I mean must top them with an actual peanut butter cup. It 100% makes it.
I made mine following Sprouted Kitchen’s famous dark chocolate almond butter cups, only subbed peanut butter, and I highly recommend you do the same. They’re so, so good and get all melty, steamy and gooey on top of the cakes. It’s like frosting on a pancake. Who doesn’t want frosting on a pancake, really?
You, raising your hand, get out of here. More pancakes for the rest of us! Enjoy.
- 1 flax egg or chicken egg
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 2-3 Tbsp agave nectar (or maple syrup/honey for non-vegan), depending on preferred sweetness
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 heaping Tbsp natural salted peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
- pinch salt
- ½ cup finely ground oat flour
- ¼ cup gluten free all purpose flour (my blend) or sub whole wheat or all purpose
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- TOPPINGS: Homemade Peanut or Almond Butter Cup OR 3 Tbsp semisweet chocolate chips (non-dairy for vegan), divided
- Preheat electric griddle to medium heat (or about 350 degrees F), or a large skillet on the stove stop. You want the surface to be hot but not screaming hot – oil shouldn’t smoke when it makes contact with the surface.
- To a large mixing bowl add flaxseed and water and let set for a minute or two. Then add melted coconut oil, agave nectar (or honey/maple syrup), baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Add almond milk (starting with 3/4 cup and adding a touch more if needed) and whisk again until well combined.
- Next add oat and gluten free flour and stir until just combined. Taste and see if it needs more agave. I added a bit more.
- Divide batter in half and add cocoa powder to one bowl and peanut butter to the other. Mix until just combined. Add more almond milk if too PB made it too thick. You want a pourable batter that's not "gloppy."
- Once the griddle is hot, lightly grease and spoon on scant 1/4 cup measure of chocolate batter, then scant 1/4 cup of peanut butter in the center. Cook until the edges appear dry and bubbles form on top, then carefully flip. Cook for another 2-ish minutes on the other side. Will make 5-6 pancakes.
- Divide between two serving plates and top with a peanut butter cup split in half or a Tbsp or two dark chocolate chips.
- Dig in and enjoy. Will reheat fine in the microwave the next day.
nutrition information is a rough estimate for 2 pancakes each with 1/2 a peanut butter cup.
Dana they are just mind-blowingly beautiful, creative, and I wish I could have a big stack right now. Pinnnnnnned! :)
Wow! Such an awesome pancake! I mean come on! Peanut butter cup! That is awesome!
o heavens. AMAZING.
OMG THESE LOOK INCREDIBLE
OMG! These look so good and it’s my birthday so I can eat what I want.
Sweet goodness, these look awesome! Love the two-toned colour!
Bahaha! You make me laugh. Also you are the pancake queen. True fact.
I had no idea how deprived I have been in life until now. You are brilliant and these pancakes are a national treasure. No joke.
You are my kind of girl!!! OMG i am in loooove with these
Just look at them!! I want a plate of these SO BAD.
Holy YUM! I need a stack of these!
I could really indulge in these every morning!
WOW! That’s one intense breakfast pancake!
Yum. I can’t wait to try this for… dessert!
These pancakes look like heaven on a plate. *Drooling*
Holy moly these are mind-blowing! Chocolate and peanut butter are perhaps my favorite combo ever! These are happening tomorrow morning! Bam.
Wow – these are just amazing! I would love to have these for breakfast tomorrow!
That is seriously stunning! WOW!
Always amazing!
Anything topped with a peanut butter cup gets an A in my book!
Ohmigodomigodomigod! Breakfast.Tommorow.
probably the most creative thing I seen all day long and of course deliciousssss
Omg. Perfection. I don’t know how you manage to make healthy food seem decadent, but you sure do have a gift! These pancakes will be meeting my face in the near future.
Whhhaaatttt?! Omg. Gsdflkuweriudgwerlkjasqopsdo. I’m incapable of making a complete sentence right now.
HOLY SWEET DELICIOUSNESS BATMAN! THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! They’re like the sun, I shouldn’t but I can’t look away!
These look absolutely beautiful! peanut and chocolate is always a winner in my books!
Absolutely my kind of way to start the morning!
Gimme Gimme Gimme! :)
Oh my….swoon.
Enough said!
oh dear god. breakfast just got real.
If I were to steal just one candy out of my daughter’s Halloween bag or Easter basket, it would always have to be a peanut butter cup. So in that case if you’re gonna indulge you might as well make it count. These look like they are definitely worth it!!!
I made these this past weekend and they were delicious…a couple notes/ideas that worked…I actually used sunnut butter because that’s what I had and it worked well. My batter came out really thin and runny so I added 1/4 cup teff flour and that also worked great.
thanks for all your great recipes and ideas!!
This is amazing:)love it!
I just stumbled across your blog via The Kitchn and want to say that I love the minimalist concept! I am also a huge pancake fan (probably too many recipes on my blog), and your recipes look so creative and delicious. Looking forward to trying some!
These were so fun to make! My 2-year-old and I are scarfing them up as I type. Thank you for such a fabulous recipe that works around our crazy food allergies yet tastes totally decadent!
Very tasty – thank you! I used 3/4 c. milk and the full 3T of agave. After somewhat burning the first two pancakes because I couldn’t tell when they were cooked due to the batter already being so dark, I made the rest starting with the peanut butter batter and putting the chocolate in the middle. Just an idea!
Love it – great idea. Thanks Ethel!
These just make me want to cry with longing. I’ve suffered an eating disorder for the last 10+ years and would give anything to make these and just have one bite. Beautiful photographs. Pinned for my one-day. :-)
Hiya! Awesome recipe. I was wondering why there is an * next to the almond milk. I can’t find the note on it. If you could reply to let me know I would really appreciate it! :) x
Celeste, it’s updated! I remember I originally put that there because it pertains to how much you add while preparing the batter. I’ve included notes in the instructions now. Thanks!
Made these this morning for the kids… lets just say… they were not disappointed ;)
Best mom ever!
These pancakes need to get made…like..right now! What could be a better combination than pancakes and peanut butter cups?!? I also like the addition of a peanut butter cup to the top of the stack!
Best recipe in the world!!!!! Lol The soooo scrumptious!!
Dana,
I am in love with these- already dreaming about the moment when I get to take a bite! What do you think of cocunt flour instead of gf flour? Do you do much with coconut flour? Can I use almond butter instead of peanut butter?
Thanks,
Betsy
Yes! Just use less since it’s mega absorbent. Hope that helps! and yes, you can sub almond butter for peanut butter. Good luck!
I would love to make these however I ran into some problems: Your #2 instruction says to mix the flaxseed and water and let it sit. Yet nowhere in the Ingredient list does it mention flaxseed or water. Also, reading through the instructions I noticed there is no mention of what to do with the egg. Am I missing something?
Yes, it mentions a flax egg with a link on how to make it. And you add the ingredients TO the bowl with the flax egg. Hope that helps!
PEANUT BUTTER. CHOCOLATE. PANCAKES?! *dying these look soooo good!*
Anyways does the recipe work with GF flour like coconut flour?
Love the idea of these. But my pancakes came out gooey and uncooked in the middle no matter how long I cooked them. I used flax goo for the egg sub and I’m wondering if that might be the problem.
These are SO lovely! PB & C is the best combo…I love that you worked it into a breakfast staple! Trying this for sure!
made these this morning for breakfast. omg they are the best!! can’t stop thinking about them. I used a chicken egg and while wheat flour, and probably just a tablespoon of maple in the batter. Thanks for an amazing recipe. I’m obsessed!
Wonderful! Thanks for the sweet words, Wendy!
Could I sub all-purpose flour for the oat flour, since I’m not making this began or gluten-free? These look SO GOOD!!!
Just made these and they are super bomb!!
Yay! Thanks for sharing, Katie!
OMG it’s a dream breakfast!
Oh man, love your blog! Can we be friends, pretty please?!!
Oh my goodness. Just. Stop. If you don’t, I may eat my laptop! <3
Amazing recipe, as usual!
Oh seriously peanut butter and chocolate pancake! what a combination making me craving for these now. Definitely gonna make these cuties.
Mmmmmm…..yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just starring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
Such a great idea. Love the flavors in these! My boys would devour them quickly.
Such A amazing food, I love your all food product and now i want to know how to make this great food.
Delicious and healthy cupcake ill try to make it and find a good result everyone loves it thanks to you for sharing this I definitely come again to visit your site.
These were great! Recipe required less liquid than the stated. I also used 2T of maple syrup and that was bordering on too sweet for me. A great and easy recipe that tastes decadent but made with some wholesome ingredients. I will definitely be making this often.
That is seriously stunning! WOW!