Growing up my dad would make his famous pancakes every weekend. Everybody knew about his pancakes, all of my friends, our extended family, neighbors...my dad is a creature of habit, and he had three different kinds--ricotta, Swedish oatmeal, and blueberry buttermilk--and he would rotate without fail, every Saturday and Sunday. To this day, when I go home to visit, I can always count on my paps making us pancakes.
When I became vegan (well as you know, I'm "almost" vegan...for reasons such as this...how could I turn down my dad's pancakes??), I wanted to find an equivalent vegan version that were as good as his buttermilk pancakes. Literally for years and years, I tried different pancakes. From vegan cookbooks, blogs, and making my own. But they always came out too dense and heavy, or too fluffy, or just not right. That's why I never included them in this blog until now. But I have finally found the perfect combination of ingredients, and these pancakes literally taste just like my dad's, and with none of the comatose side effects I always get after eating the original, dairy-heavy version.
I think one of the secrets that make these so good is the flax eggs. I've noticed a lot of vegan pancake recipes do not call for some sort of "egg" but I think it makes a difference. Also, these are quite healthy--especially if you use all whole wheat flour: in addition to flax seed, I also put in a good deal of hemp hearts. Not-to-worry if you have picky kids, you can't taste the flax or the hemp hearts =)
This recipe makes a lot of pancakes, but I have a lot of mouths to feed--five in total! You can always cut this in half, however they do keep well for a few days, and even when I was just cooking for my husband and myself, I'd always make this amount so we could have them again a couple times during the week.
Now let's just get on to the recipe!
INGREDIENTS:**
- 2 tablespoon ground flax seed + 5 tablespoon water (to make flax egg)
- 3 1/2 cups unsweetened, non-dairy milk
- 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups flour--I use 2 cups whole wheat flour and one cup white. White whole wheat flour would work well too.
- 2 tablespoon baking powder**
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoon hemp hearts (optional)
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoon canola oil (or oil of choice)
- 3 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Make the flax egg by mixing together ground flax seed and water. Set aside and it will thicken within a couple minutes, which means it's ready to use.
- Make the "buttermilk" by adding the apple cider vinegar to the non-dairy milk. It will curdle pretty quickly and will be ready to use in a couple of minutes as well.
- In a large mixing bowl add together all of the dry ingredients
- Add the wet ingredients, including the flax egg and buttermilk, to the dry ingredients, and mix well to combine. A few lumps are okay, and just be sure to not over-mix.
- Heat pan--I recommend cast iron but non-stick will work well also--over medium-low or medium heat (depending on your particular stove), and let it heat up a good 10 minutes or so. This is also the time the pancake batter needs to rest before cooking.
- Spray pan with oil, and add about 1/2 cup of batter. Let cook for a couple minutes, until the border has bubbles and is beginning to just dry.
- Spray again with oil (this is important, it makes a difference!), and flip. Cook an additional couple of minutes.
- Serve with vegan butter (I love Earth Balance), and maple syrup!
NOTES:
**I don't love super fluffy pancakes so I go light on the baking powder. But if you like them fluffier, add one more tablespoon of baking powder.
**Feel free to add in blueberries or raspberries as well!