Vegan Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes

Vegan peanut butter cup pancakes combine thick, sweet peanut butter pancakes with a rich chocolate sauce! A decadent, special breakfast made with just a few healthy ingredients, gluten free, and naturally sweetened.

Hi, beautiful babes! Can we talk about Halloween for a second?

Halloween is definitely not at the top of my list when it comes to holidays I get excited about, and I have to admit, I’m a little baffled by just how many of our neighbors seem to be really into it. Picture pretend grave yards, hanging skeletons, fake blood-smeared windows, spider webs, blow up ghosts, the whole deal. Personally, halloween doesn’t really come close to the top of my list of favorite holidays. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter just blow everything else away (and yes, the Christmas countdown is already on at my house).

I’ve just never been too into halloween. I mean, of course I went trick or treating, cause chocolate was involved, and my mom made incredible costumes. Yes, I said made. She’s a goddess. Anyway, I’m kinda just “eh” about halloween now, don’t love it or hate it. But what I DO and will always love is the emphasis on chocolate/candy that halloween brings. I vividly remember running around my neighborhood wildly swinging a pillowcase (cause ya know the cute little pumpkin bucket wasn’t nearly enough for this mouth full of sweet teeth), trying to get to as many houses as possible with the one goal of collecting as many Reese’s peanut butter cups as I could.

I already recreated the actual PB cups (made with just 3 healthy ingredients!), but I decided we needed a peanut butter cup inspired breakfast treat, too. Which brings me to these vegan peanut butter cup pancakes, and all their fluffy, pillowy, peanut buttery, chocolate glory.

Ingredients for vegan peanut butter cup pancakes

• Rolled oats: you’ll blend the oats to flour consistency, which give the pancakes a great dense, satisfying texture.
• Ground flaxseed: flax is super nutrient-dense and helps thicken the pancake batter.
• Date sugar: date sugar gives the pancake batter a bit of natural sweetness. Stevia or coconut sugar would probably also work, but I’ve only tried this recipe with date sugar.
• Peanut butter: peanut butter is a must for peanut butter cup pancakes. Make sure to get oil-free, unsweetened peanut butter, to avoid a lot of junk added to most store-bought nut butters. The only ingredients should be peanuts and maybe a bit of salt.
• Pumpkin puree: trust me, you won’t taste it! It gives the pancakes great soft and moist texture.
• Nondairy milk: milk brings the pancake batter together, and it’ll thin out the sauce on top. I use unsweetened almond milk for neutral flavor, but any nondairy milk should work.
• Cacao powder: cacao is the base of the sauce you’ll make to top the pancakes, and it gives great rich chocolate flavor.

Tips for making vegan peanut butter cup pancakes

• Measure the rolled oats before blending into flour. I always list the amount of oats used BEFORE they’re blended for flour. So in this case, you’ll measure out 1 cup of whole, rolled oats, then put that 1 cup into your blender to make flour.
• Have fun with the toppings. You’ll make a quick and simple chocolate sauce to pour over the pancakes, but feel free to add whatever else you like with chocolate + PB!

These vegan peanut butter cup pancakes come out super thick, SO fluffy, and while they taste super indulgent, they’re made with just a few healthy ingredients.

Seriously, how fun would a stack of these be for breakfast on halloween?! If you have kids, make them for yourself the morning after trick or treating when your kids are going insane, so that you’ll have healthy energy to keep up with them. If you don’t have kids, make them for yourself cause you’re a badass and deserve to eat chocolate + peanut butter for your first meal of the day. Also, the photos here show a double batch, this recipe scales up nicely, so if you do have kiddos, you can make enough for the whole fam!

ALSO, check out this list of vegan candy to hand out to trick or treaters! There are so many easily accessible options, and it’s an easy way not to purchase products that don’t contribute to animal suffering.

Xo,

Sara