My first experiment with this pancake recipe was just sugar and white flour free. It has now evolved to include dairy free (yep, even the chocolate chips are dairy free!!) and gluten free. These are a hit in our house; topped with real AMAZING maple syrup straight from a farm in Quebec (we have it at Health Street!). These are so simple & easy that you CAN whip them up on a weekday morning! Really! I’m a Simple Life Celebrations Gal – it has to be simple and few dishes!

Ingredients:

• 2 large free-range eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk – the kids can’t tell, believe me. Unsweetened vanilla almond milk would be fun to try
• 2 tbsp liquid coconut oil (we don’t use canola oil at our house anymore)
• 1 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 tbsp gluten free baking powder
• sprinkle Himalayan or sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour (yes, buckwheat flour is not wheat and is gluten free)
• Enjoy Life Mini-Chips – dairy, nut & soy free
• solid coconut oil for the pan

Instructions:

• Beat eggs in a bowl big enough for all the pancake mix
• Add milk & coconut oil & agave and whisk together
• Add the baking powder & salt and whisk to blend well
• Add the flour and whisk. You can add more almond milk at this point if the batter is too thick. It depends on the size of your eggs
• Melt a little of the solid coconut in the pan
• Pour by the spoonful into pan to make individual pancakes
• Sprinkle a few chocolate chips into the wet side of the pancake
• Use the solid coconut oil between batches to keep the pancakes from sticking. I only use about 1 tsp per batch.

I use just one bowl to mix everything in. I know that the “rule” is to mix the dry ingredients together first, THEN add them to the wet. It’s just quicker to do it this way and mixes well; so there is no need for two bowls in my opinion. I prefer coconut oil in the pan simply because it is WAAAYY better for you (yes, it’s a fat – it’s a good fat and actually helps reduce cholesterol among other health benefits). This adds to the “staying power” of the pancake as well. These are filling and actually good for you and the kids! As I mentioned, these are simple enough to make on a weekday morning – feed the kids as you pull off each batch. The Enjoy Life Mini Chips are sweetened with a little bit of brown sugar and only have 3 ingredients. It is still “sugar” – but less refined and being “Mini Chips” the kids only have a few of them to get that “chocolate chip” treat! Skip them if you want completely sugar-free.

All of the ingredients are available at Health Street. Ask me if you have questions!