Chocolate Pancakes w/Cherry Kahlua Sauce

(Doubled, just to have some left over in the ‘frig for the coming week… )  Have work bowl and whisk attachment already chilled in the freezer, then whisk 2 cups cold heavy cream

and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.  When soft but firm cream forms, sift over the bowl– 6 teaspoons powdered sugar.  Continue to whisk longer, then chill for topping over cherries, later.

Cherry goodness.  Select, wash, and pit cherries–

2 pounds.  

Place in a heavy pot to make cherry sauce.

Weigh to stir in 2 pounds sugar.

Place over heat, stir well.

Grate 1 lemon rind into the cherries and sugar,

and the juice squeezed from half of an orange.

Cook over high heat until a good boil forms,

then turn down the heat to a good simmer, skimming off the foam that surfaces.

For the pancakes, combine together 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour,

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (add the cocoa through a sieve into the flour), 

1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Lightly beat 1 egg, blend with 2 1/4 cups buttermilk and 3 tablespoons cooking oil.  Mix into flour/cocoa mixture, as well as semi-sweet chocolate chips (Miniature chips do better, I think, for pancakes…  ) stir with still having lumps left in the batter– leave them in.

Heat a skillet (I fry pancakes in butter, not oil.), sizzle over medium heat before ladling pancake batter onto skillet.

You know you’ve got a good pancake when it rises while baking on the skillet.

Add a few almonds or pecans for garnish.

Leftover cherry sauce– good for over icecream,

store in the refrigerator for a few days.