Applesauce & Oat Pancakes

I woke up this morning with a craving for pancakes. Pancakes! This was weird, considering I hardly ever eat them. But once the word "pancake" entered my mind, it wouldn't get out. And the gears started turning...

I didn't have any type of gluten-free pancake mix or all-purpose flour. I did, however, have gluten-free rolled oats (not all oats are gluten free; check the label to make sure there isn't contamination). Time to be resourceful! I decided to blend up some dry rolled oats to make a flour. 

The flour wasn't as fine or light as store-bought gluten free flour, but it worked for my purposes! The flour taken care of, I now entered experimentation mode. I've heard that cooking is like chemistry lab where you measure and combine to synthesize a product. But I like cooking more. There's a lot risk...what you make probably won't be completely toxic and blow up a room or set something on fire. The worst that can happen is an upset stomach and some wasted ingredients. Much less at stake too.

But don't fear; this experiment had a good outcome! The end result? These applesauce & oat pancakes:

They turned out denser and more hearty than "regular flour" pancakes, but still good! I was pleasantly surprised that they held together; I honestly didn't know what would happen with the oat flour but it worked!

Applesauce & Oat Pancakes

1 1/2 cups ground oatmeal flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp sugar 

2 tsp ground flaxseeds

1 egg

1 1/4 cup almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup applesauce

1 Tbsp oil for frying

add-ins: raisins, bananas, blueberries, chocolate, etc

1. Pulse 1 1/2 cups of raw rolled oats in a blender until you get a flour-like consistency

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl: the oat flour, baking soda, sugar, flaxseeds. 

3. Whisk the egg, milk, and vanilla in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly. Then stir in 1/4 cup of applesauce.

 

my countertop of ingredients

4. Add in any extras you want: I started with just raisins but later decided to add mini chocolate chips and bananas!

5. Heat up some oil on a pan on medium heat. Pour out about 1/4 cup of the batter per pancake; cook on each side until golden-brown then flip!

Serve while still warm. 

I'm a bit odd and have always eaten applesauce with my pancakes ever since I was a kid; you can put maple syrup or jam or butter or whatever your heart desires on top!

a cross-section of one: raisins, bananas, and chocolate chips!

Needless to say, my stomach was happy. A successful experiment!