One pancake at a time…

Pancakes make me happy and give me that warm feeling, no surprise here when you realise it’s actually a sugar high.

Pancakes have a very long history and have featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. So I thought as it’s Pancake Day today, I would like to learn a bit more about why we celebrating it and of course make a healthier version as sugar rush is no longer an option on my menu (only stable sugar levels and low-gi foods).

One of the facts that I found was that originally Pancake Day was a festival celebrated by the Pagans that believed they had to help the gods of spring and fertility fight against the evil gods of cold and darkness. They created the hot, round pancake in the sun’s image in the hope it would banish the evil winter gods and invoke springtime and warmer weather – bring on the Spring!! They also believed that eating pancakes gave them the power, light and warmth of the sun – they didn’t know about sugar rush and stable blood sugar levels in those times.

More seriously:

Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter). Traditionally during the 40 days, Anglo-Saxon Christians didn’t eat rich foods like butter and eggs so they made pancakes from them to clear out all left overs foods on Shrove Tuesday, then they went for confession and were “shriven” and absolved.

The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolise four points of significance at this time of year:
Eggs = Creation
Flour = The staff of life
Salt = Wholesomeness
Milk = Purity

It is estimated that an impressive 52 million eggs are used in Britain each year on Pancake Day – that’s 22 million more than every other day of the year.

I also learned that in France, it is traditional while flipping a pancake to hold a coin in one hand and to make a wish.

So today let’s embrace this tradition and make some pancakes, maybe healthier ones, pile them with fruits and nuts and savour in the happiness they bring.

One pancake at a time.

Pumpkin Pancakes:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup coconut flour or almond flour
• ½ cup buckwheat flour or quinoa flour
• ½ cup oats bran                                                                                       
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup pumpkin puree from a tin or shredded coconut
• 1½ cups almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ cup xylitol or 2 TBS Stevia to sweeten – optional
• Coconut oil for frying

For Garnish:

• Berries for garnish
• Shredded coconut and nuts for

Method:                                                                                                         

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl: flours, baking powder, soda and salt and mix well.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the dry ones and whisk until no lumps.
3. In a frying pan, melt a bit of coconut oil. Spoon the pancakes batter and create round shapes. Cook for 2-3 minutes then flip over for an extra 2-3 minutes until golden. 
4. Plate the pancakes, sprinkle some shredded coconut, nuts or maple syrup and enjoy with your favourite people.

 

 

Let me know if you want my (not so healthy) Oreo pancakes.

 

Karin

 

Two Healthy Cookies