Breakfast

Grain-Free Banana Pancakes with Warm Strawberry Compote

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When Saturday morning rolls around, everyone in our house (big or small) has great expectations surrounding breakfast. Saturday breakfast is not taken lightly, and it’s usually centered around a delicious stack of homemade pancakes. My children and husband don’t abide by my gluten-free lifestyle. I made that choice for our children, as they’re much too small at this point to decide for themselves. I want to ensure that they don’t develop an intolerance to wheat or any other food allergies. I want to expose them to all types of food and observe how their little bodies react. Thus far, they don’t show any adverse reaction to gluten, and I just encourage good, wholesome, unprocessed eating habits.

I usually make a batch of pancakes from scratch for them- think grass-fed butter, organic milk, unbleached flour, nest-laid eggs etc. I want to ensure there’s no hormones in the dairy they are consuming on a daily basis and that their flour isn’t just empty calories. But last Saturday was a little different, I wanted to change things up a bit and partake in their little “pancake party”. I have been baking with coconut flour for the past year and wanted to experiment with the world of pancakes. The first few recipes I tried resulted in feeble, easily breakable, powdery pancakes. Coconut flour is a very tricky flour. It’s so incredibly absorbent and you only need a small amount. Playing around with measurements to determine what exactly constitutes the “magic amount of coconut flour” was perhaps the trickiest part.

Serves 2-4, you will need:

  • 2 large ripe bananas or 3 small ones
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons of coconut flour
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or butter for frying

Optional:

  • 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

I like to blend all the ingredients on high for 10-20 seconds or until evenly smooth. The mixture should be creamy and a little dense, but make sure it’s not sticky. If you feel it’s sticky try adding another egg or a pinch of almond or coconut milk. By a pinch I mean start with a tablespoon. Preheat a non-stick pan on medium to high heat and give it an even coating of coconut oil or butter. Once it’s hot, pour a little of the mixture and flatten it out with the bottom part of a spoon. Wait for bubbles to appear on the surface and then flip the pancake to the other side.

For the Strawberry Compote:

  • A pint of ripe strawberries
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon
  • 1/3 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon of raw agave or pure maple syrup *
  • 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil

*My strawberries were perfectly ripe and sweet and I found I didn’t even need the maple syrup or agave as a sweetener.

When making it again next time I will continue to play with the recipe…. I will try adding some apple sauce and see if that makes them even moister. It’s an old gluten-free baking tip, we’ll see how it transposes to pancakes. These pancakes are best served fresh and a cautionary note on coconut flour pancakes: they don’t taste nearly as good when reheated. To be completely fair, even regular pancakes wouldn’t taste as great reheated. Little Hands loved this nourishing breakfast and “Pancake Saturday” continues to stands tall and strong at our home. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

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