Okay okay I know that Pancake Day has been and gone but please don’t put away your frying pan away yet as I have the perfect recipe for healthy (ish) gluten free blender pancakes that you need in your life all year round!
Last week AO.com very kindly sent me a Nutribullet Smoothie Maker* to have some fun with and as a bit of inspiration directed me to Jamie Oliver’s recipe for blender pancakes. I loved the idea of being able to whip up a no fuss, all in one recipe and his blueberry pancakes looked delicious but the main ingredient was banana. Try as I might, I just don’t like them!
I got to thinking that if I couldn’t use bananas, was there something else I could use instead? A bit of Pinterest and Google searching later and I’d hit upon my magic ingredient for blender pancakes: apple sauce! I know it sounds a bit weird but trust me – somehow it really works!
The following recipe is my adaptation of the Apple Oatmeal pancakes recipe by CookieandKate.com. She had noted that her version was a little bit hit and miss when other people tried it but I think my recipe is pretty much foolproof.
Put it this way: Whenever I’ve cooked pancakes in the past I’ve always manage to stuff up at least the first couple in some way; either I used too much batter, got the pan too hot or didn’t get the batter consistency right. With my apple sauce recipe though I managed to make 5 evenly cooked, fluffy American style pancakes straight off the bat. See? I couldn’t NOT share it after that!
Without further ado, here’s the recipe:
90g porridge oats
240g jar of apple sauce
1 egg
3 tbsps melted coconut oil (plus a bit extra for the frying pan)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp agave nectar (or you could use honey instead)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Maple syrup and fresh fruit work brilliantly well as toppings (so does a big dollop of ice cream!) but as I’ve been feeling the cold this week I decided to make a warming spiced baked fruit mix. Just imagine the cosy, almost festive smell brought to your kitchen as the tangy fruits slowly release their juices and soak up the cinnamon and nutmeg – this is definitely one to try when the weather is a bit miserable!
(Umm, so yeah confession: I got a phone call whilst cooking and being a Chatty Cathy I kind of forgot about the fruit in the oven, hence it looks a wee bit more charred in my photos than it should be! It still tasted delicious but it was an absolute bugger to clean the tray afterwards so I suggest setting a timer and checking on your fruit every so often to avoid the extra washing up!)
Small tin of pineapple chunks
Small punnet of cherries
2 Granny Smith apples
1 1/2 tbsps Canderel Sweetener
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 lemon (juice)
1 tbsp Agave Nectar (substitute with honey if necessary)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Prehead the oven to 150 degrees celcius.
Slice the apples into wedges and pop them into a roasting/baking tray. Add the lemon juice and make sure that the apple slices are all covered.
Remove the stones from the cherries and them and any other fruits that you fancy to the tray.
Sprinkle the spices and sweetener over the mix, and drizzle over the Agave Nectar and then finally add the melted coconut oil. Toss everything together until it’s all well coated, then bake it in the oven for an hour. (Check on things after 45 minutes in case your oven is more powerful than mine.)
Once ready, dollop a big pile over your pancakes. If you’re feeling really indulgent and want to kick things up a notch, add some natural yoghurt, honey or even ice cream to the party!
I love hearing what you think of my recipes and seeing your creations so if you try my healthy blender pancakes please do tag me to let me know how you get on! You’ll find me on Instagram and Twitter as @lovedbylaurac
Disclaimer: The lovely people at AO.com sent me the Nutribullet in order to experiment with healthy blender pancakes recipes.
