Healthy Sundays-Easy Peasy Gluten-Free Buckwheat Pancakes

Can I have an Amen for the weekend! Thank you! This past week felt like forever, therefore it called for a well-deserved pancake ending. Normally I would have porridge for my Sunday breakfast (because traditions... you should know the story by now, and if not find it here.), but today I felt adventurous. Having said that, I did have my porridge a little bit later in the day 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Now let's talk about mornings! I wouldn't say I am a morning person, as I do struggle to actually open my eyes and get out of bed (especially on a cold autumn/winter morning), but once up, I enjoy being in my zone, on my own. I just love the feeling of being awake while everyone else is still sleeping, or pressing the snooze button. This is usually at around 6-6:30 am. It used to be 5-5:30 am, when I was in uni, but I guess adulthood got me hard here as well...

Peaceful and quiet, early mornings can be super productive too, as by the time everyone else is up you would have probably finished all your chores, or at least had a nice filling breakfast, watched an episode of your favourite series, or had a really long 'spa morning routine'. Some of the braver ones might have gone to the gym already as well. 

But, beware! As I mentioned mornings are a quiet time, therefore you would have to be quiet and considerate of others. After all, you want to be in your zone on your own for a little longer, am I right? I would like to think that I am quite quiet, although as previously mentioned I do struggle to open my eyes and control my limbs 100%. Thankfully I have mastered the art of being a ninja (only after my first sip of coffee of course) and juggling all my tasks without waking up anyone else now seems fairly possible. It takes time, but you can learn too unless you are a super incredibly clumsy person, for which there is no cure (embrace it and be proud of it!)

So why am I telling you all of this? Because this exact morning, I decided to have pancakes for brekkie. But not only that I decided to have them as early as possible, but I challenged myself. Since the light in those golden autumn dawns is so magical, I wanted to capture it and capture my food creation with it. This meant I had to be super quick and also super quiet, to have everything ready just on time for the morning golden hour. Plus I decided to be respectful and allow everyone else in the household to have their portion of weekend beauty sleep. 

The whole routine included preparing the batter for the pancakes, cooking them, plating them, decorating and styling them and capturing them, while the sun was still shining. I had about 30-40 minutes tops. And I think I managed! I was happy with the result and the pancakes were not only delicious but healthy and super nutritious, which is the goal at the moment with my journey towards a better relationship with food and my thyroid (which I have also talked about in a previous post).

Sooo, buckwheat! A great substitute to regular flour, but gluten-free. This recipe is so easy and you could use whatever you have on hand for toppings. I used some of the last raspberries of the season. So good!

For 3-4 portions you will need:

*If you don't plan to eat all the 4 portions at once (which I strongly advice you to avoid) you could store the batter in a fridge for up to 3 days.

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt1

1/2 cup any nut milk of your choice (I used sesame seeds milk)

2 medium eggs

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

coconut or sunflower oil for the pan

For the toppings:

1 1/2 tsp peanut butter to spread

handful of raspberries

1 chopped brazil nut

5-6 goji berries

a sprinkle of bee pollen

a sprinkle of sesame seeds

a sprinkle of honey (optional)

How to prepare the pancakes?

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients. Followed by the liquids. Combine with a whisk ( no need of fancy mixers, no noise and good morning arm workout!) If the batter seems thick, add a few more drops of milk or water. You are looking for a moderately runny consistency. I use a regular ice cream scoop to portion my pancakes. Turn the hob on high, get your pan hot, then reduce the heat to medium. Grease the warm pan and start frying those healthy cakes. These take 2-3 min on one side (or until you start seeing little bubbles appearing and popping) and about a minute on the other side.

Spread peanut butter ( I think almond butter would work even better with the raspberries too) per pancake and follow up with a layer of raspberries. Finish off decorating with the remaining topping ingredients. The combination of peanut butter and fresh raspberries is super delicious. Almost peanut 'butter jelly time', but without the jelly and the nasty sugars that come with it.

Told ya, super easy, peasy! Try them and let me know what you think? Any other divine toppings suggestions? Happy Sunday, I'll see you soon!