Pancakes that are gluten-free are really better than wheat-filled. Or maybe I've just forgotten what they tasted like. When first starting the gluten-free diet, I struggled to produce a pancake that was edible. For Christmas that year, the boys proudly presented me with a griddle. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that I would never fulfill their hearts desire. I knew I couldn't give up. They were counting on me.
Well, the first pancakes sat on the griddle forever and never got done. Sadly, they had to be thrown away and there was nothing for dinner. That night I learned an important lesson that I should never start experimenting when it's time to eat!
Years have gone by and things have gotten better in the pancake department. I found a brown rice baking mix by Fearn that made great pancakes, but then last year my son developed an allergy to rice. Back to the beginning we went.
Thankfully, I found Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix is rice-free. I have added some additional ingredients to moisten them a bit. I guess I'll always be looking for better ways to make pancakes. And that's alright. It makes happy faces and tummies at our house.
Pumpkin Apple Spice Pancakes
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
1 egg
1 cup of coconut milk or milk of your choice (more or less to desired thickness)
2 Tablespoons oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Whisk the dry pancake mix and the spices together then add the wet ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.
These work great when I cook them on my griddle at 375 degrees. I tried to cook them in a stainless steel pan on the stove, but they will need some adjustments to the wet ingredients to cook well. I'll be working on this. But for now, I guess I'll have to keep the griddle a little longer.
These make great wraps for hot dogs instead of buns.
10/19/08 Update:
My non-stick griddle melted and died a few weeks ago. Funny, my intuition told me that I needed to prepare for that moment, but I didn't think it would be this soon!
Now I am making this recipe in a very large stainless steel skillet and find it works well if I heat the skillet the entire time I'm mixing the recipe. To determine if the pan is hot enough, I hold my hand about 1 inch above the pan to be sure I can feel the heat, then I use extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan just before adding my batter. I use a soup ladle to carefully spread the pancake a bit into the pan. The only measurement I tweaked was the pumpkin puree. I use a spoon to "lightly" measure 1/2 cup. So using less than 1/2 cup works best for my skillet.
Before each new batch, I add extra virgin olive oil to the pan. In my first experiment, I tried melting Earth Balance margarine in the pan and it burned so much that I could not use the pan anymore until I soaked it all day and kept scrubbing it. Maybe my pan got too hot, but I'm not ready to try that again.
My favorite kitchen gadget used here is a flexible stainless steel spatula.
Update: August 16, 2010 ~I am very excited that this recipe has been included in the gluten free recipe collection at Bob's Red Mill.
With all of my food sensitivities, it has been difficult to find a bar that fit my needs. My kids have loved Lara Bars, but the almonds have kept me away far too long. This recipe was adapted from Elana's Power Bars; I think she deserves the crown. Thanks Elana. I am deeply grateful. These are heavenly.
The Best Ever Gluten-Free Power Bars
2 cups pecans (raw)
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup organic peanut butter, pecan butter or other nut butter
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
4 drops stevia
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/4 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (use more if you like)
1. Place pecans in food processor and pulse a few times.
2. Add flax meal, shredded coconut, peanut butter and salt and pulse to mix.
3. In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil over very low heat. (This may not be necessary. If it's hot weather the coconut oil will be melted already and may be added directly into the processor). Stir stevia and agave nectar into the oil (or add to processor)
4. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse ingredients to form a paste
5. Press mixture into a 8 X 8 glass baking dish
6. Chill in the refrigerator for approximately 1 hour to harden
7. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips over very low heat, stirring continuously
8. Spread melted chocolate over the bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens
9. Remove from the refrigerator, cut into bars and be happy.
Wow ! This is delicious and very filling. We like it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I made this for dinner and reheated it in the toaster oven the next day for breakfast and lunch! To do this, you will need to make two casseroles.
The original recipe wasn't dairy-free so I made a few substitutions to fill our needs. I like sweet potatoes better than white so that was changed, too. My youngest son doesn't like onions, but tolerates onion powder just fine. Maybe one day he will grow to this.
To my surprise, my son who has never liked a casserole or food where ingredients are unidentifiable said, "I could eat this for every meal". And we did. His opinion deems this recipe very blog worthy. Thanks to Kids Health for the original recipe.
Since I would like to be soy-free, I made one pie without "cheese" and used egg yolks instead of the whites to make it look yellow like cheese. For the sausage, I substituted turkey bacon and two slices of ham.
Kid-Friendly Gluten & Dairy-Free Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:
oil for pan
2 cups grated sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp. onion powder
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance Buttery Spread, melted
3/4 cup cooked light Turkey Maple Sausage, or uncured turkey bacon
4 eggs
4 egg whites (works well with just yolks, too)
a hand full of vegan soy cheese (optional)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
Crust:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (218 degrees Celsius).
Coat pie pan with oil
Mix grated potatoes and onion powder.
Press potato mixture evenly over the bottom and sides of the pie pan.
Pour melted "butter" evenly over the potatoes.
Bake for 20 minutes. Watch carefully not to burn.
Filling:
Spread cooked sausage evenly over the crust.
Sprinkle cheese evenly over the sausage.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs, egg whites (or yolks), and spices.
Pour egg mixture of the cheese.
Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 degrees Celsius). Bake for 30 minutes or until the center is set and a knife inserted comes out clean.
(I forgot to lower the temperature and cooked mine for 20 minutes. It came out great anyway. This is a very forgiving recipe and lends itself to substitutions very well.)
Serves: 6
