Breakfast has always been my least favorite meal. Whenever I go to a diner, even if it’s at 9am, I’ll never order breakfast food (my personal diner favorite? A classic BLT).

With that said, I do enjoy the occasional sweet breakfast, such as stuffed French toast from my favorite old-time, beachside breakfast place, or fluffy, homemade chocolate chip pancakes. There’s nothing like the taste of warm, melted chocolate chips mixed in with that already-sweet pancake batter. Being from New Jersey, I like to pair it with a side order of something a little salty: Taylor ham (or pork roll, depending on which part of the state you’re from—we’ve always had a little bit of an identity crisis). If you’ve never tried Taylor ham, you’re missing out. Just don’t ask me what it is, because I don’t really know.

Anyway, I decided to put together my own recipe for chocolate chip pancakes, since everyone knows that the best breakfast joints—aka diners—are packed on weekend mornings (and let’s be honest, weekend mornings are the only time I can actually make a breakfast like this). I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, since the sugar in the batter already sweetens up these pancakes. When they’re fresh off the pan, I top them with a warm syrup/melted butter combo to seal this sweet deal.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to flour mixture along with butter and stir until mixture is smooth. Add in chocolate chips and stir briefly until combined. Heat a pan on medium-low and spray with cooking spray. Pour mixture onto pan in increments of a little less than 1/4 cup. Cook until edges are bubbly, then flip and cook about 1 minute or until golden brown. Serve with warmed syrup and melted butter.