Banana Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites

These mini pancake bites are probably one of our favorites to have on hand for rushed mornings. The kids just love them, they're small for their little hands and can be easily dunked into syrup. I posted about them almost two years ago here. We love the ones with sausage inside, I think most everyone will agree, the sausage/syrup combo is just great.

But this time around, I wanted to try something a little different. Banana and chocolate chip are always a great combination and wouldn't necessarily require the use of maple syrup. So that's the route we took.

They turned out to be a hit. I was right, they're definitely sweet enough we didn't miss the syrup. I made some without chocolate chips as well, just in case anyone wanted them plain.

You can substitute half whole wheat flour if you'd like, I do that quite often and no one can tell. If there's one item you should definitely make for easy breakfast, I recommend pancake bites. They're so fun for the kids and you can add just about any sort of fruit inside. Older kids can even handle preparing their own plates, just nook in the microwave for a minute or so. Easy peasy!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
mini chocolate chips

Directions:
In a medium sized bowl, combine mashed banana, egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Add in sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk together. Gradually add in flour and whisk until batter is pretty smooth.

Into the wells of a greased mini muffin pan, drop batter in until 3/4 full. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips into each muffin well. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Using a butter knife, remove each pancake bite and set onto a wire rack to cool completely. When all cooled, line them onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Put into the freezer for one hour. Then transfer to a freezer bag that has been dated and labeled.

Place into the freezer until ready to use. When ready to enjoy, remove desired pancakes from bag, either heat in the microwave for a minute or two OR place on a baking sheet and heat in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Serve warm with maple syrup if desired.

Makes about 3 dozen.