Pancakes are a breakfast classic and a dinner favorite – who doesn’t love that good ol’ brinner?

A fresh batch of pancakes made from scratch is always better than the mix that comes in a box, and since it only takes about 10 minutes to make the batter, it is definitely worth it.

But after so many batches, the plain dish gets a little bit boring no matter how much syrup and butter you slather onto each pancake.

Luckily there are many easy ways to modify the traditional Betty Crocker recipe. You can make fruit or chocolate chip pancakes by adding either to the batter while the pancake cooks on the skillet. You could make oatmeal pancakes by substituting half a cup of flour for half a cup of oatmeal.

Or, you could make peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes.

Peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes are easy to make and easy to serve, as there are enough flavors in the pancake that you do not need syrup or butter for them to taste good. If you do want to dress them up, whipped cream makes an excellent topping.

Start to finish: 25 minutes

Makes about four medium sized pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

3 tablespoons of oil

1 egg

1 1/4 cups of milk

1/2 cup of peanut butter

Butter

Chocolate Chips

1. Start preheating a frying pan on the stovetop. Set the stove to a low setting.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Then add in the oil, the egg and the milk. Whisk the mixture until smooth.

3. Add the peanut butter to the mixture. The peanut butter can be at room temperature, but briefly microwaving it first makes the peanut butter easier to stir in. Once mixed enough, the batter should be fairly drippy, in the sense that it should easily fall off the whisk when the whisk is pulled out of the batter. If this doesn’t happen, add more milk to the mixture and whisk again.

4. Butter the pan so that the pancakes don’t stick. When the butter starts sizzling, the pan is hot enough for the pancakes.

5. Pour the batter into the pan. Then add chocolate chips to the pancake to taste.

6. When the pancake starts to bubble, flip the pancake over to cook the other side. Check periodically. When both sides are a golden brown remove the pancake from the skillet and serve.

Enjoy.

Katie Landeck can be reached at [email protected].