Fluffy Protein-Packed Pancakes
By Catherine Newman
By Catherine Newman
Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 16 (2-inch) pancakes (4 servings)
Total Carbohydrates: 8 grams per serving (plus additional for the toppings)
These grain-free pancakes are protein-rich and carb-poor, meaning nice, steady energy for your morning. They’re delicate and a little eggy – i.e. they’re very tasty, but they’re not Aunt Jemima, so if you’re cooking them for more people than just yourself, you may need to sell them a little bit. “Silver Dollar Pancakes” is a nice marketing strategy, I think. Two things: 1) You can double the dry ingredients and store this in the fridge as “pancake mix”: just add a cup to the wet ingredients in the blender, and you’re all set. 2) Not to sound all mommy-blogger, but I like to put the batter in a squeeze bottle before making the pancakes because I find it easier to use that way. (You can also scrape it into a Ziploc and snip the corner off – great for squeezing out letters and shapes, if there are smaller people in the house who might appreciate that kind of thing.)
Ingredients
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter (plus more for the pan)
½ cup milk
1 cup almond flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Optional 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and/or ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Butter, yogurt, and/or fruit for serving
Instructions
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Put the wet ingredients in a blender jar and blend to mix them.
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Add the dry ingredients and blend again thoroughly, adding a splash or two milk if the batter seems too thick. (How will I know if it’s too thick? is a reasonable question. If the blender blade seems disinclined to move through it, or if the batter is too thick to pour easily.)
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Heat a griddle or frying pan over medium heat, then butter it generously. Spoon or squeeze two-inch circles of batter onto the pan and cook the pancakes until the bottoms are nice and brown. These will not reveal their doneness the way regular pancakes do, with bubbles popping at the surface – you will have to gently peek underneath.
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Flip them carefully as they’re a little sticky and fragile while they’re cooking. (Gluten in wheat flour is nice and stretchy, and it’s what makes other pancakes able to bend without breaking). Cook them on their second side another minute or two, then serve right away, even if you make more batter to cook; these are best eaten freshly cooked, and get a little stiff if you try to keep them warm.
About Catherine
Catherine loves to write about food and feeding people. In addition to her recipe and parenting blog Ben & Birdy (which has about 15,000 weekly readers), she edits the ChopChop series of mission-driven cooking magazines. This kids’ cooking magazine won the James Beard Publication of the Year award in 2013 – the first non-profit ever to win it – and a Parents’ Choice Gold Award. Last year they started the WIC version of the magazine for families enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and are currently developing Seasoned, their senior version, commissioned by the AARP. They distribute over a million magazines annually, through paid subscriptions, doctor’s offices, schools, and hospitals. Their mission started with obesity as its explicit focus – and has shifted, over the years, to a more holistic one, with health and happiness at its core. That’s the same vibe Catherine brings to the diaTribe column.
[Photo Credit: Catherine Newman]
