There is definitely something about waking up to the smell of warm fluffy pancakes, sweet syrup, and slightly salty butter. Somehow pancakes always reminds me of family – generally speaking, I wouldn’t make pancakes just for myself, so I always associate pancakes with family get togethers, breakfasts with my boyfriend, and sleepovers. Actually, I didn’t really use to like pancakes that much and the most I could eat was 2 slathered in melt-y butter and covered in real maple syrup.
Somedays though, I get these real visceral (read: deep rooted) cravings that I can’t ignore and this morning was one such time!
One of my biggest issues with pancakes is that they’re basically a doughy sweet bread and have a significant amount of calories, fat, and especially carbohydrates. There’s no fibre so there’s really not a great reason to eat this amount of carbs when you can get it from healthier sources. So what to do when the craving hits?
Step One: Sub the all purpose flour for buckwheat! Despite its name, buckwheat isn’t wheat – it is a gluten-free grain. It’s high in protein, vitamin B, and rich in phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, and lysine. For more information about the great properties of buckwheat, check out Very Well Fit.
Step Two: Use maple syrup in the recipe instead of sugar so you can get more natural sugars in your body instead of refined white sugar. Obviously sugar in excess is going to be bad, but if you’re a sweets loving muncher like me, subbing the syrup for the sugar does in a few more minerals and I can put in very little into the recipe. Dr.Axe has a good breakdown of maple syrup here.
Step Three: Okay so I mentioned that I love sugar right? I need more! So adding fruit like a strawberry gives me some more natural sugars and is an amazing source of Vitamin C. I also really love adding blueberries for their antioxidants and also just because I like eating them.
Buckwheat Strawberry Pancakes
Much better than pancake mix from a box. Sweet, delicious, and fluffy. Best of all, it's gluten free, dairy free, and vegan!
Ingredients
- 1 cup buckwheat flour gluten free flour, check packaging
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 Flax “egg” (made by mixing 1 tbsp flax meal with 3 tsp hot water)
- 1 mashed banana
- 2 tbsp oil avocado oil is a great option
- 2 tbsp maple syrup plus additional for serving
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup cut strawberries can add more strawberries to taste - 1.5 cups
Instructions
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Whisk buckwheat flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt & cinnamon in medium bowl.
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Combine milk, egg, melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla in small bowl.
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Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until combined then let it stand for 5 minutes. Batter should be fairly thick and elastic (a tiny bit more milk can be added if batter is hard to move around). Fold in strawberries.
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Brush additional butter or olive oil onto griddle or non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter about 1-2 inches apart on griddle and cook for about 2 minutes each or until golden brown and edges begin to bubble.
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Turn over the pancakes and cook until lightly browned. Serve with additional maple syrup and extra fruit!
U never mentioned how much strawberries?!?
Hi Diana, good question – I seem to have missed it on the list. About 12oz so 1-1.5 cups of cut strawberries. Thanks for asking!
[…] Other GF Breakfast recipes: GF Strawberry Rhubarb Banana Bread GF Buckwheat Strawberry Pancakes […]