Grain Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

More pancakes? YOU BETCHA. Y’all, my family loves pancakes, and honestly it’s one of the few ways that I can sneak things like veggies into my picky eater’s diet without a power struggle. So while you would think we get tired of varying pancakes with mini chocolate chips in them, you’d be wrong. We don’t.

 

The thing that I love about these is that they utilize pumpkin puree, almond butter and almond flour, which means I’m getting veggies and lots of good, healthy fat and fiber in first thing. There’s a little sweetness from the banana and vanilla, and the mini chocolate chips make it feel like a treat. I think you’ll see why these are so good about 5 minutes after you make ’em!

Here’s the great thing about these pancakes: they make a tooooooooon and are so easy to store and reheat! So while making pancake batter in my blender may not be my idea of a good time, I literally only have to do it twice a week.

 

Here’s how I do it:

1. I make the pancakes as directed below.
2. As I make them I place them on a wire rack to cool completely before storing them.
3. I put them in a large glass dish with a lid and refrigerate them.
4. In the mornings I take out however many pancakes are needed, place them on the rack in a cold oven, and set my oven to preheat to 350. My oven’s preheat function takes 6 minutes, at which point I take the pancakes out.
5. They’re perfectly warmed, a little crisp on the bottom, and the chocolate is just the right amount of melty!

I’m planning on talking about this more next week, but I have been using cast iron skillets for pretty much all of my cooking lately and have become such a fan! I was so worried that I would have a big heavy pan of ruined pancakes, but by making sure the skillets are well seasoned I’ve found they’re just perfect! Again, I’ll be talking about this all in more detail next week or so, but in an effort to clean up the environmental toxins in our home I’ve stopped using anything coated with Teflon or any other kind of nonstick coating. I guess I have just been very pleasantly surprised at how amazing cast iron is – durable, easy to cook and clean with, safer to use, and just all-around better!

 

And did I mention you can totally make pancakes in them? Ha!

GRAIN FREE PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 4 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup creamy almond butter (this is the one I use)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup finely ground almond flour (this is the one I use)
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (this is the brand I use)

Directions:

1. Combine everything except the chocolate chips in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Heat a skillet over medium low. I recommend using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet for this; otherwise, you’ll need to grease in between batches.
3. Fold the mini chocolate chips.
4. When the skillet is hot, pour the batter in 1/8-cup increments into the pan (I usually do 3-4 at a time).
5. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side; you want the edges to look a little dry before trying to flip them.
6. Gently flip the pancakes over and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
7. Allow to cool slightly.
8. Repeat until all of the pancakes are done.
9. Enjoy warm!
10. To reheat, place the pancakes on the rack of a cold oven and allow the oven to preheat for 5-6 minutes at 350. Should be just perfectly warm!