I love rough-looking, misshapen pancakes. They have personality and aren't the usual white flour rounds and mostly likely contain something interesting.
I like interesting food.
We've been a fan of Deb Perelman's Zucchini Bread Pancakes for a long time now. I reduce the grains and removed the gluten by using almond flour and used a GF flour blend. They're awesome, really.
Then one day, a few weeks ago, I had a hankering for gingerbread. I found a recipe for gingerbread pancakes in a Gourmet cookbook (that I scored at Goodwill for under $5... happy day) and remembered the pile of zucchini I still had in the fridge. So I married the two.
I not only married the two, but I made them dairy-free and gluten-free.
I made them dairy-free, but I put a big old slab of butter on top. And some of my grandma's apple jelly. They really didn't need anything else!
These pancakes taste like a cross between soft gingerbread and zucchini bread. They're even good without the zucchini.
My kids ask for these almost every day. Without the zucchini.
Someday I'll win them over.
Gingerbread Zucchini Pancakes
A marriage of gingerbread and zucchini bread. In the form of a pancake.
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 cup gluten-free flour blend
- ½ cup ground or milled flaxseed
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup molasses
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce (or Greek yogurt)
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 4 Tablespoons melted coconut oil (or grass-fed butter), plus extra for greasing the pan
- 2 Tablespoons real maple syrup or raw honey
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flours through cloves). Whisk well.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine well, but don't overmix. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes or so until you get your griddle/pan ready.
- Heat a non-stick ooking surface to medium heat and brush some oil or butter to coat. When the pancake batter has "fluffed" up and looks foamy, work in batches and scoop the batter onto the griddle/pan using a ¼-cup measuring cup.
- Using the cup, flatten the batter out a bit because it won't flatten as much as regular pancake batter. Cook, flipping once, until pancakes are firm to the touch and both sides are golden brown.
- These will take longer to cook than regular pancakes, so if they get dark too quickly, lower the heat.
- Serve with butter and your favorite toppings. We liked a dollop of apple jelly. Because these pancakes are sweet, they really don't need a lot of extra sweetness.
