Saturday Morning Pancakes

Blueberry Pancake Happiness

Pancakes are one of my favorite foods.  When I was little, my parents made pancakes for us every weekend: round pancakes, bear pancakes, turtle pancakes, initial-letter pancakes.  And they were delicious!

These days, gluten, soy, sugar, and dairy aren’t my friends, but  I really don’t like the idea of giving up my pancakes just yet.  So, after some trial and error, I’m happy to present “The Free” pancakes.

Ingredients:

3 cups brown rice flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tablespoon milled flax seed

3 Tablespoons honey

1 Tablespoon Grapeseed oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs (can be omitted for egg-free pancakes, they just won’t be as thick)

2 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk (can also use rice milk (nut-free option) or coconut milk)

Add the dry ingredients first, then stir in the rest.  Some extra milk may need to be added.  The batter will need to be thicker than normal pancake batter, so make sure it isn’t too runny. Pre-heat your griddle — medium-high at first, then you may need to turn the heat down so they don’t burn. Make sure to use a non-stick skillet with a lid so that a.) the pancakes will actually flip and b.) they rise well.  I usually cover the pancakes while they are side 1 and let them cook most of the way with the lid on.  The bubbles that surface should pop and leave little holes when the pancake is ready to flip. Because of the ingredients in these pancakes, the cooking time will be longer than white-flour or buttermilk pancakes.

Some notes:

• There is not a lot of oil in these pancakes. Make them in a non-stick skillet, otherwise the results will be disastrous.
• I like to sprinkle any combination of chopped bananas, walnuts, pecans, strawberries, apples, blueberries (whole), and crumbled bacon (seriously) to the top of the pancakes as soon as I put them in the skillet.  Chocolate chips and peanut butter chips are also fun. I don’t like them in my pancakes, but I hear other people do.
• If you don’t have milled flax seed, just add another tablespoon of oil.
• For a corn-free option, omit the baking powder and use 3 teaspoons of baking soda. They won’t rise as much.
• This morning, my brilliant friends put a combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in the microwave for several minutes to make berry syrup.  Don’t add sugar.  It is amazing.

Dangers of not using a non-stick skillet. And this was one of the better ones.

Blueberry pancake in progress.

Using a lid helps bake the pancakes so that they rise. So good.