Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce: A Bit Naughty & Nice for Food 'n Flix December Pick: Christmas in Connecticut

Can you flip flapjacks in the skillet? Elizabeth Lane can. At least Elizabeth Lane, the 1945 version of Martha Stewart, author of a weekly column in Smart Housekeeping magazine. That Elizabeth Lane is a gourmet cook, dishing up recipes and stories of life on her Connecticut farm with her husband, baby and even a pet cow. In reality things are a bit different, the real Elizabeth Lane is a single "career girl" and lives in a little apartment in New York City. She can't cook and the recipes of the gourmet dishes she writes about are provided by her friend Felix, a chef and cafe owner.


When recovering war hero Jefferson Jones tells his besotted nurse that he has never had a real home, she writes to Elizabeth's publisher, Alexander Yardley, to see if Jones can spend Christmas in Connecticut with Elizabeth and her family. Yardley thinks it is a brilliant idea to sell more magazines and invites not only Jefferson Jones, but himself along for the holidays. Backed into a corner and knowing she will be fired if her publisher learns the truth, Elizabeth in desperation finally agrees to marry her persistent suitor, architect John Sloan, who just so happens to have a farm in Connecticut. Of course much mayhem ensues in this classic romantic comedy Christmas in Connecticut starring Barbara Stanwyck. It's a fun little movie and part of my Christmas film collection so I was happy that Heather of girlichef selected it as the December pick for Food 'n Flix.

Elizabeth's publisher Mr. Yardley, has definite ideas about his ideal Christmas, which includes watching Elizabeth flip flapjacks on Christmas morning. Elizabeth, the non-cook, gets a lesson in pancake flipping from her chef friend Felix who has come along to secretly do the cooking but she fails each attempt. Will she be able to flip pancakes for Yardley, pull off posing as an expert cook, wife, mother and role model for her readers, and fight her growing attraction to Jefferson, or will her subterfuge be discovered? (You'll have to rent it and find out!)

Yes, pancakes are an obvious choice for a dish inspired by this movie but I couldn't resist. Mainly because they are easy, require no special ingredients and once again, although I re-watched the movie at the beginning of the month, I am sneaking in days before the deadline with my entry. (At least I am consistent!) I am a pancake scooper, not a flipper, although when I was in grade school and a Girl Scout, I earned a special "ROPF" patch. ROPF stood for "Royal Order of Pancake Flippers" and we had had to successfully flip one pancake to earn the somewhat homely homemade felt patch, designed to look like a pan with a flapjack in it. I made a (somewhat halfhearted) attempt to determine which box in my closet holds my Girl Scout sash so you could see my proof, but quickly gave up. You'll just need to take my word for it. ;-)

I thought if I was going with an easy dish like pancakes, I should jazz them up a bit. I made a Raspberry Sauce this week for I Heart Cooking Clubs, so I decided to add some mini dark chocolate chips to the pancakes because chocolate and raspberry are a good combination and seemed festive. Since I was putting the chocolate in and raspberry sauce on top, I thought the pancakes themselves should be somewhat healthy (a little bit naughty and a little bit nice), so I made Oatmeal Pancakes (from the Coach's Oat site), and added the chocolate chips. It's all about balance people!

Oatmeal Pancakes
Adapted from the Coach's Oats website
(Makes 16-18 pancakes)

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used oat flour ground from the Coach's Oats)
1 cup Coach’s Oats
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar (I reduced the sugar by 1/2 since I was adding the chocolate)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 cup water

(1/3 cup mini vegan chocolate chips)

In a mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, milk and water. Add liquid to dry ingredients. Stir mixture until well blended. (Mix in mini chips)

Pour 1/4 cup batter into a hot, lightly greased griddle for each pancake. Cook both sides until golden brown.


Notes/Results: Mmm... Chocolate chip pancakes + raspberry sauce = good! I made a half-batch of the pancakes, which made about 5 salad plate size and 1 small one. The oats make them a bit dense and chewier than regular pancakes, but in a good way. One thing--if attempting to be semi-healthy, do not attempt to take a 30 minute work phone call in the middle of mixing pancakes and forget you added the chocolate chips then add more. If you don't care go ahead and add away--it didn't hurt the taste any. The raspberry sauce had enough tartness to keep these pancakes from being too sweet, but still, all I could manage to eat was two. The giant stack of four was just for dramatic effect. Really.

Note: The Raspberry Sauce deserves it's own glory, so you will find the recipe posted tomorrow.


The deadline for this month's Food 'n Flix is a bit early this month, December 23rd. Heather will be rounding them up soon after. If you missed this round, join in January when we will be watching Eat Pray Love, hosted by The Law Student's Cookbook.

Are you a flapjack flipper or pancake scooper?