Pancakes are very special to me. They are the first thing I ever cooked on my own.  When I was around 7 years old, one morning my mom asked me what I wanted for breakfast and I said, “Pancakes.” She said, “OK,” got out the New York Times cookbook, opened it to page 468 and said, “here you go.”  She supervised, but I did all the work myself. That was how I got my start in cooking.  Since then, that recipe was my go to for pancakes.  However, it used eggs and milk, so when I became vegan, I had to find something new. At first I thought I could just replace the milk and eggs and be fine.  Replacing the milk was easy. Replacing the eggs took some work.  I initially tried a mix of flax seeds and water and it was pretty good.  However, I wasn’t thrilled.  Then I decided to try it without any egg replacement.  It mostly worked.  I played with the recipe more and finally came up with a winner.  It is very different than the recipe that got me cooking and is now my go to.   I like my pancakes on the thinner side, so I tend to add more milk to the batter. If you like yours thicker, no extra milk needed.

One final change came to the recipe this year and, again, my mom was the inspiration. My mom has psoriatic arthritis in her hands.  One  doctor she consulted for care suggested she see a nutritionist for help modifying her diet to remove sources of inflammation. One of the things she was told to eliminate was gluten. After a week on her elimination diet she told me she was craving pancakes. How could I not help? After all, it was my desire for pancakes that originally got me cooking. So, I did some research and figured out how to make these pancakes gluten free.

Big note here: the kind of gluten free flour you use makes a HUGE difference.  Some of them are very gritty and you end up with a texture more like a corncake. That can be great, but it isn’t what I was looking for. In my opinion, Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is the best.  When you are using gluten free flour, you need something to help everything stick together.  The answer here is Xanthan gum.  A little Xantham gun goes a long way – 1/4 teaspoon works for 1 cup of gluten free flour.  If you are using regular flour, omit the Xantham gum in the recipe.

One final tip before we get to the recipe, I find using a large ice cream scooper works great for ladling the batter onto the griddle.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: about 10 pancakes, depending on size.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups nondairy milk (plus extra for thinning as needed)
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 ½ cups all purpose flour or Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour*
1 TBL baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp Xanthan gum (ONLY if using gluten free flour)*
2 TBL canola oil
3 TBL maple syrup other liquid sweetener
2 tsp vanilla extract

Pam for cooking

Directions:

1. Add vinegar to milk. Stir to combine and set aside for 5 minutes.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl

3. Add remaining wet ingredients to the milk mixture. Stir to combine.

3. Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Stir thoroughly to get out any lumps.  If the batter is too thick, add a little more milk to thin it out. Batter should be runny.

4. Heat griddle over medium-high and when ready, spray with Pam. Ladle batter by the ¼ cup onto the hot griddle. Cook until bubbles start appearing on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip your pancakes.

5. Cook on other side about 2 minutes. Or until golden.

*If you are not using gluten free flour, omit the Xanthan gum

Options: Try adding in sliced strawberries, or mixed berries, bananas, chocolate chips.

This is the gluten free version, topped with fresh organic berries and covered with maple syrup and fresh cashew cream. Delicious!