Sunday 26 February 2012

Pancake Pandemonium!


Cooking on the AGA...they are done quickly so move fast!
PANCAKE DAY!
Everyone loves pancake day. How could you not? It is the perfect opportunity to stuff our faces with sweet, sugary goodness without our motives being questioned...wonderful. 
This was my first 'Shrove Tuesday' as a vegan and being at school and surrounded by people eating pancakes and shoving it in my face that I can't (Bitter? Me? Not at all) I knew I had to figure out a recipe to make my own. I looked up a few recipes and found it was surprisingly simple to make vegan pancakes. In the end, I chose a recipe from one of my favourite vegan cook books: 'Vegan with a vengeance' by Isa Chandra Moscowitz. 
They do fall apart slightly more easily but taste just as good!




First of all, here is the recipe and directions:
1 1/4cup all-purpose flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt 
1tsp cinnamon (You could also use coconut)
2T canola oil (any cooking/vegetable oil will work)
1/3cup water
1 1/4cup soy milk (I used Kallo) 
1tsp vanilla extract


1. Oil a large skillet and preheat over medium-high heat about two minutes.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in one bowl. In a separate bowl combine all other ingredients.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined. Do not overmix or the pancakes will be tough (a couple lumps are okay).
4. Cook pancakes until browned on the bottom and bubbles form on top, about four minutes. Turn over and cook until the bottoms are browned and barely firm to the touch. Add more oil as needed.


The first pancake...always looks a little strange!
I found this recipe so easy to use and the pancakes tasted gorgeous. Using the ingredients given, it makes 7 pancakes so adjust the amount you need accordingly. The cinnamon was definitely worth putting in although I think it would also be tasty with coconut (she has a seperate recipe for coconut pancakes if you prefer!) They are slightly harder to flip than normal pancakes so be careful not to break them although I personally think that, broken or not, a pancake is a pancake and it will taste just as good! A final word of warning is that you do need a reasonable about of oil on the pan before cooking because they become sticky FAST and you do not want burnt pancakes because you cannot unstick them from the pan to flip them.
Plus, remember...the first one never goes right so don't be disheartened...practice makes perfect (or makes us fat...either one)

Toppings wise (the best bit) I personally love the classics...sugar and lemon or maple syrup but I dared to be a little more adventurous, just for you guys, and tried out chocolate spread...YUM. My mother had brought me some dark chocolate spread and I was super keen to test it. It was fantastic, very dark and slightly bitter but you could still taste the milkiness. It was the perfect combination with the sweet pancakes. Here are a few more photos to make your mouth water...

Stawberries and chocolate


I could eat this with a spoon and...nope, just a spoon will do...
Just a side note that if you want to buy the chocolate spread, it is called 'whole earth dark chocolate spread' and I also used maple syrup called 'Sweet Freedom natural syrup'...sinful but sensational!

I hope you all had a wonderful pancake day...now go on, make all those non-vegans jealous!


Plus, my cope of 'Skinny Bitch' arrived today...will do a review of it later, so excited to read it!

I apologise if the posts are a bit delayed, it is time for mock exams once again so sadly there is more studying, less cooking but see you all soon!

Happy pancake flipping...:)

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