Pancake Heaven

On my kick of trying to make paleo substitutions to appease my flour-bred brain, I found these DELICIOUS gems at Elana's Pantry--a gluten-free cooking site.  I absolutely LOVE Elana's recipes, and SO wish I found her while I was living in her city of Boulder, CO.  However, gluten-free is a slippery slope when searching for paleo-style recipes.  On searches through other sites you have to weed through all the recipes using alternative grains, chemically derrived artificial sweeteners, and processed to oblivion fats that make gluten-free frankenfoods just as harmful or even more so than their flour cousins.  So finding these pancakes and other delicious recipes on Elana's site was a god-send.  She gets it.

Pancakes from Heaven
slightly adapted from Flapjacks
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

2 eggs, room temperature (warm using a warm water bath or leave out prior to cooking)
1/8-1/4 C honey
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 C water
1 and 1/2 C almond flour/meal
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
coconut oil (for cooking)

Using a blender, combine the wet ingredients: eggs, vanilla, honey, and water.  Blend until smooth.  Then, add the dry ingredients: almond flour, salt, and baking soda.  Blend until smooth.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat (I had to crank mine up to med-high to get it going, then back down to med-low or lower by the time I reached the last batches--but that could be my stove).  Add coconut oil and swirl to melt and distribute.  Pour pancake batter onto the skillet to get your desired size of pancakes (I found that smaller is better and was able to fit 4-5 sand-dollar sized pancakes in my large skillet).  Wait until you see bubbles bursting from the center of the pancake before turning (I had some trial and error with this--the bottoms cooked fast and the tops stayed liquid, making for a messy flip).  The upright side should be golden brown (not burned) and crusty/crunchy.  Yum!  Wait until the underside is browned before removing and continuing the process with the remaining batter.

I got a slew from this recipe, around 12 depending upon the size.  Keep the removed pancakes warm using a warming burner or oven set to warm.  It helps to put a moistened paper towel on top to keep them from drying out.

Once done, you don't need any syrup.  Let me say that again since it came as a surprise to me too: You don't need any syrup!  They are delicious as is and a great accompaniment to eggs (in background of next picture)!