The Only Pancake Recipe You'll Ever Need

Back in the good old days, before the interweb took over the world, I would fastidiously tear out recipes from magazines and newspapers and keep them in a binder. The best-loved of those recipes would get torn, splattered with ingredients, but never lost. One of my go-to breakfast recipes is this pancake recipe, which today I gift to you via digital trickery.

It includes a secret ingredient to guarantee the fluffiest, healthiest pancakes you’ve ever tasted. Shhh… don’t tell anyone except your closest million friends.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am not much of a breakfast person, but there’s no need for me to deprive Monkey and visiting friends just because of my predilection. I’ve even taught Monkey how to make this recipe himself—it’s simple, fun and doesn’t require any type of expertise to wow your hungry companions. I’ve made this version gluten-free, but the beauty of it is you can use all sorts of ingredients to make this your very own.

Ingredients:

– 1 cup of almond milk – you can make your own or use a high quality sugar-free one like Califia Farms (or use cow’s milk)

– 2/3 cup of organic quick cook oats (these are partially cooked already, so it’s important to use this type) this is the secret ingredient

– 2/3 cup of gluten-free flour (I like King Arthur and Gluten Free Girl) – or you can use regular organic wheat flour

– 1.5 tsp of baking powder

– 1/4 tsp of kosher salt

– 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon

– 2 tsps of soft brown sugar, or coconut sugar if you want a low glycemic version

– 2 fresh eggs

– 1 tsp vanilla essence

– 2 tsp olive oil

Method:

• Warm milk to just boiling point in a small pan on the stove. Remove from heat.

• Add the oats and allow to stand for a few minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
• Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

• In a separate small bowl or jug, whisk the two eggs with a fork, add the vanilla essence and oil. Beat gently to combine.
• Add the warm oats to the dry ingredients and then add the eggs, before stirring gently to combine. It doesn’t matter if there’s a lump or two. Don’t over-stir as this will take the fluffiness out of your pancakes.

• Heat either a griddle, or a cast iron frying pan, on a medium to high heat on the stove top. Spray with a high quality oil like coconut oil.
• Using a ladle, create small pools of heavenly batter on the hot cooking surface.
• The trick is knowing when to flip – a sure sign is when bubbles have appeared evenly across the surface.

• Flip – and cook for another minute or two, depending on how golden you like your pancakes.
• Repeat steps the above steps until your batter is all used up.
• Serve with whatever you fancy: butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, jam, fresh fruit. The options are endless.

According to a torn magazine page I have in my binder, the original inspiration for this recipe came from American Baby magazine in the early 2000s.