Gluten-Free 'Pancakes'

I apologize for the horrible photo . The camera is broke so I'm using my phone.

As I said before, we are trying to eat a little healthier in this household. Pancakes with butter and peanut butter and maple syrup and chocolate chips really don't fall under the healthy eating category, although every now and then, they still make for a great indulgent breakfast. But what if you want pancakes but still want to be a little healthy, or what if you don't want/can't have the wheat in pancakes? I happened to find this great gluten-free pancake recipe. With some blueberries in the batter and a little almond butter on top with a little maple syrup, it's still mildly indulgent without the guilt.

Gluten Free Pancakes

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or gf vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup all natural unsweetened applesauce (Trader Joe's has a really delicious brand)
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a medium bowl, beat eggs. Add almond flour, applesauce, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to eggs and mix well. Stir in blueberries, gently. Meanwhile, heat a skillet sprayed with a little bit of olive oil. When skillet is hot, ladle about a 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet. Repeat with as many as your skillet will hold.  Cook until little bubbles appear and you can easily flip the pancake. (Time will vary depending on your stove) Flip pancakes. Continue to cook until each pancake is cooked through. Remove to warm plate. Serve with a dollop of almond butter and maple syrup and a few berries on the side. 

Much thanks, again, to my cousin for her help with my gluten-free recipes!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancakes, the iconic breakfast food that has an entire restaurant devoted to it. Pancakes are a big deal in my house. They are the breakfast tradition when my niece visits and every snow day that we get to sleep in and take the day off.

Now it must be understood that I was raised to NEVER bake anything from a box. Everything must be made from scratch. I do break that rule occasionally, for example, I still cannot make instant sugar-free pudding so I resort to Jell-o for that. And I also think that my brownies from scratch and Ghiradelli boxed brownie mix taste almost identical. But I digress.

Getting back to the making everything from scratch, naturally that would include pancakes. Mom's pancake recipe is almost as easy as the stuff you buy at the store and it tastes much, much better.

Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 tbsp sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups milk

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Whisk JUST until combined. Mixture will be lumpy.

Now, I did name this Chocolate Chip Pancakes so here is the chocolate part. At this point, add as many chocolate chips as is desired. Other add-ins include blueberries, bananas or strawberries.

Heat a griddle pan on medium high heat and spray with olive oil.  With a ladle, pour about a 1/4 of a cup of batter onto the griddle. (My griddle fits four pancakes at once, but that will depend on the size of the pan) When bubbles start to form and pop on the top of the pancake, gently flip pancakes. Check for golden brown colour by lightly lifting one side of the pancake. When both sides are golden brown, remove pancakes to a plate and place in a warm oven until everything is ready.

Since this is another food tradition is my house, there is of course a specific way to observe this tradition. In my house and in my mother's, pancakes are spread with a little bit of butter and a liberal amount of peanut butter and then drizzled with maple syrup. It's the most delicious way to eat pancakes, I promise.