Happy St. Patrick's Day: Thin Mint Pancake Recipe

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Since the holiday falls on a Sunday this year, I wonder if people are still going to wear green, go out to get piss drunk and pinch people. I know a lot of Irish people who actually celebrate the holiday are probably going to celebrate the more traditional way. But as for the rest of us non-Irish folk, what else do you really do? 

Well, to answer my own question, I won't be wearing green nor will I be getting piss drunk or pinching people. Instead, I will be gorging on these awesomely delicious Thin Mint Pancakes that I've whipped up to celebrate the occasion! How's this for a St. Patty's Day treat? 

Prep time: 10 Minutes 

Yields about: 12 pancakes 

Ingredients:

1 cup of all-purpose flour 

1 cup of milk 

1 large egg 

2 tablespoons of sugar 

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 teaspoons of baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1/16 teaspoon of green food coloring 

Non stick cooking spray OR 1 tablespoon of butter 

8-9 thin mint cookies or mint chocolate chips 

Chocolate syrup 

Whipped Cream 

Instructions 

1. Combine the flour, milk, egg, sugar, vegetable oil, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix thoroughly until all lumps are gone. 

2. Add about 1/16 teaspoon of green food coloring. You can add more if you want it to be greener. Personally, I liked the batter to look more like the color of mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

3. Take the thin mint cookies into a ziplock bag and crush the cookies into crumbs. If you want the chunks bigger, don't crush them too much. If you don't have thin mint cookies lying around (it's okay if you ate them all by now), you can substitute it with Great Value: Fudge Mint Cookies, which can be found at WalMart. Or you could even use mint chocolate chips, which can be found at any big name grocery store. 

4. Combine the crushed cookies into the batter. 

5. Mix the cookies in thoroughly and evenly until the batter resembles melted mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! 

6. When you have your batter ready, grease a non stick pan or griddle with non-stick cooking spray for a little bit of butter. Spoon out the batter into circles onto the pan as neatly as you can. I only did two at a time since I didn't want to crowd the pan, but if you have a larger pan or make smaller pancakes, you can cook more at a time. 

7. Let the pancakes cook on the first side for about 45 seconds to a minute, depending on how hot your pan is. It won't take that long and you can use a spatula to cut between the pancakes if they stick together. 

8. Flip them over after 45 seconds to a minute. They should be light brown and slightly crispy but not too dark. Otherwise, you may have burned them and they won't look as pretty. 

9. Cook the pancakes for around another 30 seconds. You can use your spatula to peek underneath the pancake and see if it's slightly browned. 

Note: It may take shorter or longer to cook your pancakes depending on how thick or thin you make your pancakes. I like to make mine smallish to medium. The number of pancakes this recipe makes will also depend on how large or small you make your pancakes. 

10. Let your pancakes cool a little bit. Below is a picture of how they should look. 

11. Top with a nice dollop of whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup. You can use maple syrup or any other toppings that you wish. However, I find that using chocolate syrup really brings out the thin mint flavor in the pancakes. Reintroducing the chocolate into the recipe enhances the pancakes wonderfully and turns this regular breakfast food into a fun and tasty dessert. 

The finished product

Are there any other St. Patrick's Day recipes that you like to make to celebrate the holiday? I think the best thing about the holiday is the excuse to dye your food green. I don't know about you, but I love eating green colored foods that are not necessarily supposed to be green. Maybe it's just a weird quirk of mine but the sight of green colored cupcakes, cookies and drinks always make my mouth water. Anyone going to miss those Shamrock Shakes? 

Anyways, let me know if you will be trying out this recipe and what you think of it. Hopefully, you enjoy this as much as I did! 

With love, Tiffany