Quinoa Pancakes

Quinoa pancakes; sorry about the poor photo quality; it was before 7am...

It's been a month of excess and enjoyment in this house. I may be behind the majority but my New Year healthier approach to cooking and baking really only started yesterday.

And finally I am inspired to share again thanks to one of the (many) new cookbooks I got for Christmas. The King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book has been a fabulous addition to my already overflowing bookshelves. It contains a wealth of information, tips and recipes on how to use whole grains without sacrificing any taste whatsoever. However, given my overdose of Christmas baking (some frozen) lasted us until last week;  I could not, in all conscience, add more goodies to the snack cupboard until we were all done with the reserves.

Today, however, a cold is moving through our house and my little one woke up asking for pancakes. I couldn't say no; partly because (selfishly) it gave me the perfect excuse to try out the pancake section of my new book. The book gives me an excellent opportunity  to use the whole grain flours I have been storing in my freezer, unused for months. Apparently whole grains go off much faster than their processed cousins so I now keep the less often used ones in my freezer. Today it was the quinoa flour that shouted to me.

So at 6:30a.m. I got out the baking bowls and we set to work. The batter has no fat or sugar added but manages to turn out a light, slightly sweet and earthy pancake. Very well received by all and it pleased this Mummy no end to send her brood off to school and work with a protein packed breakfast. My husband made some comment about feeling like he was in a hotel; I guess I haven't made a decent breakfast in a while! We had them with pumpkin butter and a touch of maple syrup but the recipe recommends maple syrup mixed with ginger syrup which sounds lovely to me.

Quinoa, ginger and cranberry pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup (3 7/8 oz) quinoa flour
1/4 cup (3/4 oz) whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 oz) milk
1/2 cup (4 oz) applesauce
1 egg
1/2 cup (2 oz) dried cranberries

1/4 cup minced crystallised ginger ( I omitted; my kids have given it the curly lips in the past, but it would be delicious)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients ( not including the cranberries) 
2. In another bowl, whisk together the milk applesauce and egg.
3. Mix the wet with the dry and stir until well mixed together; it will be quite runny.
4. Finally stir in the cranberries and crystallized ginger if using .
5. Leave the batter to sit for 10 minutes
6. Heat a heavy skillet or griddle pan on medium
7. Pour a 1/4 cup of the batter for each pancake.
8. Cook until bubbles form and the edges just start to turn golden.
9. Turn them over an cook another 1-2 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!

My husband's tasty pancakes

My first post.  I’m Kat’s husband.

After being on 10 different planes in the past four weeks I am home for a while and my cousin “Auntie Ticktoria” is visiting.

I’ve been addicted to the statistics of the blog while I’ve been away; I knew that if a new recipe was posted I was receiving a sign that all was well, back at the ranch. 1,065 page views to date… I could bore you with all sorts of other stuff like the fact that people from Spain and Scandinavia have viewed the blog…..but I’ll stop.

This morning the girls were very excited about the prospect of breakfast with "Auntie Ticktoria". We agreed to make pancakes, rather than my usual trip to get bagels with the girls while Kat has a lie in,   I found this recipe on the net a while ago and it was much better than any previous pancake recipe or mix I have ever used. 

Consistent with the other recipes on this blog, I've made it a  bit healthier than the original recipe.  I make the batter with whole-wheat flour rather than regular flour.  I think this started because the first time I made the recipe I couldn’t find any white flour in the house, (doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, just that I couldn’t find it….). Although butter is not the healthiest part if the recipe, it’s a worthwhile addition of flavor that can’t be replaced by oil or nonstick sprays. The caramelized banana is one of the best things about these pancakes and the butter really helps that flavor.

So here goes.

First of all make sure you have made your cup of coffee or whatever else gets you going in the morning.

Saturday morning pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup/ 4oz/ 110g wholewheat flour

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup/ 240 ml buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 banana, sliced thinly

Directions

1. Turn the oven on low to keep the pancakes warm
2. Measure out the dry ingredients and whisk them together in a mixing bowl.  
3. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter.  This morning my batter was a bit too thick, probably because the air is very dry at the moment, so I added some more buttermilk. 
4. Put the skillet on the stove on medium put a knob of butter on to melt. 
5. Don’t forget to put the exhaust fan on, so the kitchen is filled with the smell of pancakes and not the fumes of cooking. 
6. Chop up the banana while the skillet warms up and then add some butter to the pan.  
7. Pour some pancake batter onto the skillet, then place the sliced banana on top.
8. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side.  This will vary depending on how hot your pan is, but if it’s too hot there will be smoke and the middle of the pancakes will be raw.  If the pan it too cold the pancakes will just take forever and the banana will not caramelize.  
9. Each of the pancakes will absorb some butter so keep an eye on how much is in the pan and add a small amount before starting a new pancake if necessary.

I made double the recipe (pancakes freeze apparently) and we ate about 2/3 of the pancakes between three adults and the two kids.

Where can you go wrong?  Just don’t forget to wash the dishes after you are finished cooking.

A couple of tips:

• This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in stirring
• To freeze the pancakes, place a piece of parchment paper between each pancake and place the pancakes in a ziplock bag. To defrost, lightly toast.
• The banana can obviously be substituted for another fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, apples or pears