Coconut Pancakes!

Day 3 of the WLC and I succeeded in creating edible, no--scrumptious coconut pancakes!  This has been four months in the making.  As soon as I completed the last WLC, I have been trying to find ways to make pancakes that I could actually eat and be WLC/Paleo compliant.

Here's just a bit of a back story:  I love pancakes! When I was a vegan, the breakfast choices were limited, but I found I could get away with some awesome whole wheat pancakes from Village Inn--particularly the banana walnut ones!  Then I went Paleo and still coveted pancakes but didn't eat them on a regular basis.  I would generally grab some after a double-digit long run on Sundays.  Knowing that the whole wheat pancakes didn't fit my eating lifestyle was okay with me as long as I knew I could have them when I really wanted them.

When I chose to do the fall WLC, I knew I would have to give up pancakes, which seemed like a small price to pay.   That is until the first weekend of the challenge.  Joe (my husband) and I have a weekend routine that goes like this:  wake up early, go to the gym and workout (or run outside), clean up, and go out to breakfast together.  Then came the WLC Fall Challenge, and the knowledge that I couldn't have the pancakes when I wanted them.  I was also training for two marathons six weeks apart!  Those weekend breakfasts watching him eat a stack of pancakes smothered in maple syrup slayed me! That is when I decided I needed to find a way to make pancakes I could eat.

My first attempt at coconut flour pancakes was meager at best.  I thought I could just substitute coconut flour for wheat flour--not exactly.  Coconut flour is much more porous (or something), which meant I needed a whole lot less of it than regular flour!  That batch went in the trash.

The next couple of attempts were half-hearted, and I tried to skimp on the ingredients.  This lead me to a fun, new treat!  No--the pancakes did not work. The consistency was wrong, and they wouldn't cook correctly.  However, when I mixed my new concoction with chocolate flavored protein shake mix, I had a refreshing, tasty treat!

Today, I came home for lunch with tackling this pancake dilemma head on.  I grabbed the coconut flour, eggs, vanilla, coconut milk, and baking soda and set to work.  I mixed all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and what I thought were all the wet ingredients into another bowl.  The batter was chunky.  I didn't care. I spooned it into the hot pan anyway.  Then I read the instructions again. I hadn't put the eggs in the mix!  They were sitting right there on the counter patiently waiting for me.

After sliding the chunky batter out of the pan and back into the bowl, I added the eggs and mixed thoroughly.  I made one huge pancake, which turned out magnificently.  My beautiful WLC-approved pancake sat on my salad plate looking like it was missing something...syrup!  Egads!  I couldn't put syrup on it.  Wait!  I grabbed the almond butter  from the refrigerator and spread it atop the pancake!

I had mastered coconut pancakes with almond butter topping!  Next time I will add the walnuts and bananas to the mix...and still keep the almond butter topping!

Nom Nom!