Simpli-Made Gluten Free Pancakes

Several days ago I posted a review of Simpli Gluten Free Apricot Instant Oatmeal, complete with pictures and a smoothie recipe that calls for a packet of the instant oatmeal. I also mentioned that on the company website there were more recipes, including one for gluten-free pancakes, and promised that I would feature the pancakes recipe in another post. Well, here it is.

The first time I made these pancakes, I didn't have any oat flour on hand. Anxious to try the recipe anyway, I substituted quinoa flour because that's what I had in the pantry. I do not recommend using quinoa flour in this recipe. It leaves a distinct quinoa aftertaste, and my younger son and I were the only ones who would eat them. Even I didn't think they were all that great. However, knowing neither the recipe nor oatmeal were at fault since I didn't follow the instructions, I decided to try it again, this time using the proper flour. That made all the difference. These were at hit with my kids. So much so that out of the 14 pancakes yielded, I only got to eat 2.

Ingredients:
1 package Simpli Gluten Free Apricot Instant Oatmeal
2 cups gluten-free oat flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk (can also use dairy-free milk like almond, rice, etc.)
½ teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
5 tablespoons butter (melted but not hot)
1/2 cup water

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix together well, and set aside.

 

Beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla until well combined, then slowly add melted butter. Then gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

 

The recipe says to stir in the water to thin the batter, but I thought the batter was already pretty thin, so I didn't add any.

 

Preheat skillet and oil with melted butter or nonstick cooking spray. Use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. When the top starts to bubble, flip it over and cook until done. These cook pretty quickly.

  

You can keep the pancakes warm in an oven on the lowest setting until you've made them all. Usually what happens around here is they eat them as fast as I can make them, which is why I don't have a nice photo showing a big stack of pancakes with maple syrup dripping down the sides, but I was very impressed with how well these turned out once I used the right kind of flour.

Cranberry Banana Quinoa Muffins

I discovered this recipe on my Whole Foods Recipe iPhone app, which is probably my favorite app, and definitely the cooking-related one I use the most. The recipe is actually for Cranberry Banana Quinoa Bread. I decided to make muffins because this way I don't have to actually slice a loaf of bread--yes, I'm that lazy. Also, muffins don't take as long to bake or cool.

Of course, I had to change a few things. I didn't have any quinoa flakes, so I used quinoa flour, hoping they're similar enough to not matter. Also, I didn't have any garbanzo bean flour, so I used up what was left of another all-purpose gluten-free flour I had in the pantry. The only other item I subbed was using unrefined cane sugar in place of regular granulated, so my batter and muffins have a brownish tint. Oh, and I accidentally bought the extra large eggs instead of large ones the last time I went grocery shopping, but I couldn't tell that it made any difference.

Ingredients

3/4 cup quinoa flakes (I used quinoa flour)
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour (I used what was left in my box of Gluten Free Pantry All Purpose Flour)
1/3 cup potato starch (make sure you use potato starch and not potato flour, BIG difference)
1/3 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/4 cups (about 3) ripe mashed bananas
2 large eggs
1/3 cup non-hydrogenated, non-dairy margarine that has been melted and cooled (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a loaf pan (or muffin tin). Combine quinoa flakes, bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a medium bowl and use a wire whisk to mix everything together. Set aside. (I forgot to get a photo of that step.)

Mix mashed bananas, eggs, and margarine together in a separate bowl until well combined. Add sugar, cranberries and lemon juice and mix until blended.

 

Gently stir in dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix batter. Pour into loaf pan/muffin tin and bake until lightly browned, about 40 minutes for loaves and 25 minutes for muffins.

  

Allow to cool completely before serving.

 

I was very pleased with how these came out. I taste the banana more than the cranberries, but the mouthfeel is very pleasant. They do smell and taste slightly of quinoa, but that may be better balanced out when used with garbanzo bean flour as per the recipe, and they still taste good. In fact, I've eaten 3 so far. The rest are in the freezer. I can defrost them as needed for breakfast or a snack, and I'm less likely to eat more than 1 at a time that way.

  

I didn't mention it earlier, but these muffins are also dairy free. There is sugar in them, but the bananas replace a good deal of the fat, so they're also a tiny bit healthy. I'm thinking about trying these again only with applesauce instead of bananas, since not everybody likes banana bread.

Baked Oatmeal Redux

Sometime last year, I posted a recipe for vegan baked oatmeal. This is easily one of my favorite things to have on hand because it's so versatile and can be enjoyed year-round. I make it in the summer when we have freshly picked blueberries, but it works equally well with frozen.

The only trouble is that the original recipe was rather long and involved--not that I wasn't well rewarded for my efforts, but it's nice to have some quick and easy recipes for things I find myself making on a regular basis. Well! Recently I saw a revamped version of the baked oatmeal recipe that's also vegan, dairy-free, and can be made gluten free, only this recipe is much easier and replaces the sugar with maple syrup. Also, the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of peaches and 1/2 cup blueberries, but I use a cup of blueberries because I typically have other plans for my peaches. This version is a bit sweeter than the original recipe, so you may want to scale back the amount of maple syrup.

Baked Oatmeal Redux:

3 cups quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons finely ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup maple syrup
1 2/3 cup almond milk
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen this time because that's what I had)

Before you do anything, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray, and assemble the ingredients. Mise en place, s'il vous plait.

In a large bowl, combine oats, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. I also added some freshly grated nutmeg. I love freshly grated nutmeg.

In a separate bowl mix the almond milk and maple syrup together, then add to dry ingredients.

Stir until just combined, and then fold in the blueberries.

Pour it all into the baking dish--don't worry if it looks a bit soupy.

Bake at 350 for around 40 minutes or so, and this is what you get. 

A yummy snack.

Warm with almond milk.

Along with the cooler weather comes my desire for comfort foods, and this one tops my list of favorites. I like to eat it warm with some almond milk for breakfast, I can have it cold as quick snack, and it makes a yummy dessert when topped with vanilla coconut milk ice cream.