mo' pancakes mo' problems

I know, more pancakes.  I promise I do make other things besides pancakes.
 just not very often.

My mom went a little crazy the other day buying strawberries, so I've been trying to use them up.  I'm planning on making some chocolate covered strawberries for a bake sale on Sunday, which made me want to try and make chocolate-covered-strawberry-pancakes.  So I did.

The pancakes themselves were amazing--soft, sweet but not too sweet, fluffy, with just the right amount of berries.  But it's the chocolate sauce that really made them taste incredible (and very much like a chocolate covered strawberry indeed).

yields 5-9 small/medium size pancakes:

+2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you could try substituting with another flour)
+1 tsp baking powder
+1/2 tsp baking soda

+1 & 1/2 heaping tsp sugar
+1 pinch salt
+3/4 C almondmilk (or other milk of choice)

+1 tsp pure vanilla extract
+1 TBSP + 1 tsp greek yogurt (i used honey flavored)

+2/3 cup chopped strawberries

 

 Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, while mixing the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Add the wet to the dry with the strawberries, and then gently fold until just combined.

 Let the batter sit for a couple minutes while you heat a pan/griddle over medium high heat and make your chocolate topping:


+ 1/4 C pure maple syrup
+ 2 TBSP cocoa powder (mine is a blend of regular and dutch)
+ 1 heaping tsp hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder
+ a few dashes of ground cinnamon
+ 2-4 drops almond extract


Mix all the ingredients for the topping together vigorously until there are no clumps of cocoa powder left.  You can adjust the consistency/flavor to your liking.  My mom said it was a little bitter tasting so you may want to add more maple syrup or not include any dark choc. cocoa powder if your taste buds like things super sweet like hers.

After that's done and your batter has set, scoop it onto the preheated pan/griddle sprayed with non-stick spray.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until bubbles begin to rise to the top & the edges are set.  Then flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes.   

 

Behold, the perfect strawberry pancake. 
Now introduce it to the chocolate.  A lot.

 

 

What a beaut.
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After much procrastination, I'm getting this blog started. Today is the day! The time has come! And I am proud to present to you on this day, a delicious vegan pancake recipe. Apple-pie-pancakes to be exact.

 When I was a little girl, I loathed any dessert that wasn't chocolate. Especially fruit pies.  Then, around the magical age of 16, a slight obsession for apple pie (a la mode, with chocolate ice cream, specifically) was birthed without any explanation. That obsession has since simmered to a healthy appreciation, and now usually when I make a fruit pie it's peach or plum.  But there are few things I enjoy more in the mornings than whipping up a batch of pancakes, and after purchasing some apples yesterday, I decided to put them to good use.


recipe adapted from here (one of my very favorite food blogs).

[yields about four 5-6" pancakes]

+ 2/3 C whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose or flour sub of your choice)
+ 1/3 cup rolled oats
+ 1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
+ 2 T brown sugar (or more or less to your liking)
+ 1/8 tsp salt
+ 1 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
+ 3/4 cup regular almondmilk (or another non-dairy milk sub.)
+ 1 TBSP coconut oil (or another oil sub)
+ 1 tsp. vanilla extract
+ 1/4 tsp. butter extract (yes, somehow this is vegan)
+ about 1 cup finely-chopped apple (I used Fuji)
+ ice cream is optional (but adding it will make the breakfast no longer vegan.) 

Start by playing an episode of Twin Peaks off Netflix while chopping up the apple and set it aside. Then mix the dry ingredients in a bowl very well while watching Leland Palmer lose every drop of sanity he ever had.

In another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (minus the apples).  Then mix the wet and dry together until just combined and gently fold in the apples.

 Now wait a couple minutes and let the batter sit and the baking soda do its thing.  In the meantime, heat a pan/griddle over medium heat and if you feel so inclined, make a topping to accompany these babies. Try to feel so inclined.  I think in the future I'll try an apple or caramel topping, but I just decided on a simple glaze for today.

i did:

+ 1/3 heaping C powdered sugar

+ 2 TBSP pure maple syrup 

+ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

+3-5 dashes cinnamon, 1-3 dashes ground nutmeg

I love glazes because they are the absolute easiest things in the world to tweak.  I like my glazes on the thick side, but feel free to add more or less maple syrup (or milk/extracts/sweeteners) to adjust the flavor and consistency as you like.

Pancake time.  Scoop the batter onto preheated pan/griddle sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. cook for 2-3 minutes on first side until bubbles rise and the edges are set, then flip. Oh, and this is completely optional, but you can also sprinkle the batter while it's cooking with raw sugar to give it a sweet pie-like exterior.  I sprinkled some on the raw batter side while the first side was cooking, then sprinkled more on the cooked side once i flipped it. I did not regret it one bit.  

 almost finished.

  

  After all the batter is cooked, please drizzle your topping of choice relentlessly over each pancake before stacking them. Thank you. Then go right ahead and add a healthy dollop of ice cream on top (I didn't have anything dairy free on hand, so I used butter pecan). Because you can. and should.  They were downright dreamy, I tell you.

cheers to tasty breakfasts and first blog posts. 

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