In the four or so years since I first went vegan, I can count the number of weeks I've gone without eating a stack of pancakes on one hand. I really wish I was joking when I say this, but I'm not! The pancake life has well and truly ensnared me.
When I first went vegan I admit that I was still in the thralls of an eating disorder, but instead of restricting food in general (i.e. anorexia) I was now restricting my diet to only eating what I deemed to be 'healthy' or 'clean' foods (i.e. orthorexia). Refined sugar was a no-go, flour wasn't on the table unless it was gluten-free and fit into my idea of what was 'nutritious', and cocoa powder was the evil adversary of my beloved cacao powder. Luckily, I've now fully recovered from that disordered way of eating and I happily eat processed food and refined sugar pretty much every day, as well as takeaways a couple of times a month. No one's died, I haven't gained any weight (and who cares if I have, I'm cute either way) and I'm honestly happier than I've ever been. There is a point to all this rambling, I promise.
So, I was looking back through all my old recipes and wondering when I ever had the time/energy to come up with so many (being an adult is hard, guys), and noticed that a lot of my old pancake recipes are full of expensive, hard to find and also slightly pointless ingredients. I've been making my pancakes a bit differently in recent months, and to be honest they're so much better now.
I've learned a few things in my quest to create the perfect vegan pancake:
- 'real' (refined etc etc, blah blah) flour is way easier to use and cook with than buckwheat or rice flour, and it has a much better texture
- cocoa powder is tastier than cacao powder, sorry babes
- please use sugar, don't deprive your gorgeous lil' body of the good stuff
Hope you enjoy the recipes, my lovelies! Do let me know what you think of it and if you have any opinions on the whole orthorexia deal. It sucks to have an obsession with food dictate every part of your life, but it's good to get people talking about it so we can all try and help each other!
Ingredients
makes 6 - 7 pancakes
- 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax seed + 4 tablespoons water)
- 1/2 cup plain flour (gluten-free if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I use the one by Green & Black's)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons coconut/brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dairy-free milk
- coconut oil for cooking
Method
First, make the flax eggs - mix the ground flax seed and water together in a cup and leave to thicken up for 5 - 10 minutes.
Once the flax eggs are ready you can start making the pancakes. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl and stir together. Add the sugar, flax eggs and dairy-free milk, and mix well until smooth.
Add about half a teaspoon of coconut oil to a non-stick frying pan and heat it up on a low-medium temperature. Once the pan is hot, add about 1/4 cup of the pancake batter into the centre and let it cook for a couple of minutes, until bubbles appear on the top and you can flip it over with ease. Cook for an additional 30 - 60 seconds on the other side, then remove the pancake from the pan and repeat with the rest of the mixture.
Serve with plenty of syrup, fruit and other delicious toppings!
Love, Meghan x
I'm in a bit of a bind with Orthorexia because of my severe chronic illness. I have to fuel my body with as good as I can get my hands on, which means no refined sugar and as little unrefined as I can manage. It's lead me to get allergies/intolerances which makes life very difficult and means gluten is off the table (which breaks my heart truthfully haha). I want to beat Orthorexia so for now I'm trying to not avoid foods because I'm scared of them, but avoid them for the right reasons. Bit of a head fuck really but I think I'm getting there. You're a big inspiration! And I'll keep using your old pancake recipes because I love buckwheat flour anyway :)
ReplyDeleteSide note, I love all the quirky political and feminist stuff you've been sharing on instagram. Awesome!
Ahh babe I'm so sorry to hear that you have a severe chronic illness, you poor thing! That makes total sense, I agree that you have to keep yourself healthy as best you can lovely! It's good that you can recognise that you're avoiding certain foods for the right reason though, it's really important to be able to do that :) suuuuper head fuck I agree, but you're doing great! Thank you so much sweetie, that means a lot to me :) haha you do you, girl! Aww yay, I'm so happy - I was worried about straying from veganism but I'm passionate about other things so I thought why not! xx
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