Just your basic low-carb blueberry pancake

Last updated on April 12th, 2017

People eating low-carb, high-fat usually learn pretty quickly about wheat flour substitutes. At least they do if they have a hankering for foods like pancakes and waffles.

To be honest, I’m happy eating eggs for breakfast most mornings, with or without bacon or sausage on the side. But a change of pace only enhances the pleasure you take from the usual, customary fare. So occasionally I make pancakes.

My basic recipe mixes almond flour/meal and coconut flour, at a ratio of three parts to one respectively. Coconut flour has tremendous capacity for absorbing liquids, so it’s best to keep it the junior partner in the batter mix. The other ingredients are vanilla, cinnamon, eggs, water, and butter.

Oh, and maybe a few berries.

Coconut/Almond Flour Pancakes — makes four medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons organic coconut flour
• 6 tablespoons almond flour/ meal
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2-3 tablespoons water (or even 4 tbs. for thin cakes)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter (or more if you want to up the fat content)

Preparation

1. Mix the flours together in a bowl.
2. Add the eggs, vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Whisk it all together.
4. Whisk in one tablespoon of water at a time until the batter reaches the consistency (thickness) that you prefer.
5. Optional — stir in blueberries if you have them.
6. Melt tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium heat.
7. Drop in batter to form four pancakes (or more if the batter is thinned enough).
8. Cook, flip, and cook some more — until a nice golden brown.
9. Serve with the rest of the butter melting on top.

Now, the berries (if you use them) will provide some sweetness, but not the sweetness you would get from, say, half-a-cup of pure maple syrup poured over the top. Let’s face it — ain’t nothin’ gonna give you sweetness like that. As you may have noticed,  a low-carb, high-fat diet rates low on the sweetness scale. You could sprinkle on a packet of Stevia extract, which is what I usually do.

Then wave an unopened bottle of maple syrup over the plate, and dream.

OK, enough of the self-pity. I like a fried egg, over-easy, with my pancakes.  You can probably figure out why.

Yeah, I’m a dipper.

Here’s the macro-nutrient breakdown for the above full recipe without berries:

• 673 calories
• 59g fat (mostly from the almond flour and the butter)
• 19g carbs
• 11g fiber
• 26g protein

I suppose we have to call that two servings, although I ate all of it by myself this morning. (I’d have shared, but Anita is out-of-town at a conference.)

A quarter-cup of blueberries would add about 20 calories and 4g of net-carbs, and probably boost your morale a lot.