So I know I titled this recipe as “pancakes”, but it is really more like a “pan bread”. Instead of the sweetness associated with a cake, this recipe yields a flat delicious creation that is actually more reminiscent of a slightly salty and hearty bread.
This past weekend I was in charge of making the pancakes for our Sunday Breakfast. Generally I have always felt that pancakes are a “Daddy job” since my father was always the one who made pancakes when I was growing up. When I made pancakes for myself and my hubby years ago, he felt I did the little cakes an injustice by trying to make them healthy. Pancakes, he said, require white flour and sugar. Since then, I have left the pancake making up to him.
Until this weekend when he passed off the job to me so he could go mow the lawn before it got too hot out. When I make pancakes, I make them my way, trying to sneak in as much nutrition as possible for my little-bird-of-an-eater toddler. I used the recipe for pancakes that I scribbled down in my recipe book many moons ago, and substituted my little heart out.
Here’s what I did.
Ingredients:
I also added these things that weren’t in the original recipe:
Directions:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and stevia in a bowl.
2. I know it’s recommended to combine wet and dry ingredients separately, but let’s get real – do we really want to dirty up more dishes than absolutely necessary? I think not. Maybe for fancy-pants pastries and such I’ll follow that rule, but for these pancakes, the chuck-it-all-in method has worked just fine for me.
With that said, crack in the egg and pour in the milk.
3. Get frying pan heating up on the stove, with the 3 tbsp of coconut oil in it. When the oil is melted, pour it into the pancake mix and stir everything up really well. Add more coconut oil to the pan for frying.
4. When the pan is heated up, pour in your batter. I poured small pancakes, about the size of a teacup saucer. I think the small size helps the pancakes cook more evenly, and makes for easy holding and dipping for both tiny and large hands. It also makes saving any uneaten pancakes easier to store and take out for snacks.
5. I think we all know how to fry a pancake. Cook one size until it starts getting golden brown, then flip and cook the other side. If you need more oil, put in another bit. It’s really not rocket science.
As I mentioned above, these pancakes didn’t end up tasting like the sweet, incredibly fluffy pancakes you would find at a pancake house. As I was pouring the first cake, my hubby walked by and I could tell he was less than excited about my special breakfast. However, we all thoroughly enjoyed this different variety of healthy pancake. Little Z gobbled them up fresh, and for snacks later, and I was shocked that even my pancake-opinionated hubby admitted that they were actually pretty good.
While my hubby enjoyed his pancakes with our homemade blackberry jam, I found the slightly salty, bready taste of these pancakes went really well dipped in the sweet-and-sour taste of yogurt. I don’t buy flavoured yoghurt from the stores, as I have yet to find one that I approve of feeding my little one, since they are all packed with aspartame, sucralose, or refined sugar (even the straight-up, refined sugar is hard to find) and I just don’t feel good about feeding her that. Instead, I buy high-fat plain yoghurt and add a couple drops of Pure Liquid Vanilla NuStevia (or another flavour, but vanilla is the most versatile) for sweetness.
If you’re looking for more breakfast ideas for your little ones, there are 11 healthy breakfast ideas suitable for toddlers here.
Here’s to health and deliciousness! Bon Appétit!