Pancake Day Inspirations & Recipes

Dust off the frying pans, roll up your sleeves and beat that batter - it's Pancake Day. Whether your pancakes flip or flop, stick to the ceiling or to the pan, have fun experimenting this Shrove Tuesday.

As well as recapping on some previous pancake experiments, I will be sharing a new recipe with you.

For years I thought pancakes were unhealthy, but over the last year I have been experimenting with them to make them health and exciting. I make pancakes more often now than I ever have. When I think about the basic traditional pancake recipe is milk, eggs and flour, it isn't unhealthy, and this can be made cleaner by using unsweetened almond milk instead of dairy and using wholemeal flour instead of plain or you could use coconut, buckwheat, spelt or whatever you feel like. Ground almonds would also work as a flour substitute. You can even add protein powder if you feel like it.

Pancakes can be topped with lots of delicious and nutritious toppings from fruit, nuts or seeds, natural or Greek yogurt, and for sweetness use honey or pure maple syrup.

Have fun, experiment and enjoy.

Wholemeal and flaxseed pancakes...

You will need..

100g (3/4 cup) wholemeal plain flour
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 medium free range or organic egg
180ml (3/4 cup) unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Let's get flipping...

Mix the flour, flaxseed and baking powder in a good sized bowl - one that when you started beating in the egg the mixture won't go everywhere - pour in the almond milk and crack in the egg and beat together until it forms a thick batter and there are no dry ingredients left. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan, spoon the mixture into the pan and cook your pancakes until they are lightly golden on each side and puffed up slightly.

I warmed an apple in the microwave with a little cinnamon and then popped it on top of my pancakes and drizzled with a little pure maple syrup.

Om nom nom.

Light, fluffy, lip smackingly tasty pancakes. And the bonus? They're pretty darn healthy too. I love food that tastes indulgent and looks gluttonous but is actually good for you.

I made them the weekend before and sandwiched almond butter and banana in between. Almond butter and pancakes is like a match made in heaven. Its safe to say they didn't last long.

The trick to fluffy pancakes?

My pancakes never seemed to turn out as fluffy as other bloggers or Instagrammers even though I was using the same healthy ingredients. Then I saw someone post on Instagram that adding baking powder to your batter added made delicious fluffy pancakes. So I thought I'd give it a go. It gave rise to my baked goods, so why not my pancakes? And it worked. 

I'm going to try self raising flour when I'm making a batch of pancakes and see if it gives them extra fluffiness. 

My go to pancakes are these clean and lean ones from the Bodyism website  This recipe is fail safe and makes delicious, thick, healthy pancakes high in protein every time. If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen these pancakes making a regular appearance. They made a really good hearty and healthy breakfast.

You can top them with whatever you feel like. I've topped with berries and honey, banana and maple syrup, crushed nuts and Greek yogurt. All have been incredibly delicious, healthy and satisfying.

After making the clean and lean pancakes several times, I experimented with the recipe and came up with these chocolate and banana ones. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I am always looking of eating it tha good for me. These pancakes taste like they should be naughty but I used unsweetened cocoa powder for the chocolatey kick and bananas for the sweetness. 

Playing around with the Bodisym recipe again, I came up with these PB2 banana pancakes between Christmas and New Year. I posted the recipe and photos on my Instagram account but here is the recipe for you.

[makes 4 pancakes]
1 teaspoon oil (I find coconut or olive work best)
60g (1/2 cup) rolled oats
100g (1/2 cup) cottage cheese
2 medium free range eggs
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed
1 medium banana
4 teaspoons PB2.

Blend all the ingredients in a food processor and then cook each pancake in a pan in a little oil - each pancake is rougly three and half tablespoons of batter. Easy peasy. Bananas are great in pancakes, they add bulk and sweetness, plus banana and PB is a great combo. I poured pure maple syrup on mine but you could go all out on peanut butter goodness and top with more PB2 or regular peanut butter.

For something different why not try my coconut and raw chocolate pancakes? They were soft and melted in my mouth.

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!