It certainly throws a spanner in the blogging works when your boyfriend decides to go on a diet.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not against him going on a diet. I mean, the amount of food we ate in America, we could both stand to lose a few kilos. But in the two and a half years that we’ve been dating, he’s been the predominant recipient of my baking. No one in my household really eats baked goods, and so I tend to bake when I feel like baking and pass them on to him so that I don’t eat all of it myself. It also has the added benefit of getting me serious brownie points (haha, get it?) so it’s really a win win. But alas, he has asked me to no longer bring him baked goods. So I’m left with the dilemma of ‘what on earth do I cook?’

Normally I’d go straight for sweet recipes, as that’s what I enjoy the most. But I think this presents an interesting challenge for me to try some new things on my Pinterest board that I’ve been saving. You see, I tend to try and eat really healthy during the week, and so my Pinterest is filled with healthy eating recipes that I fully intend to make one day, but never get around to. Mainly because baking sugary treats gets in the way, but no more! I now have a little bit more reason to try out some uncharted territory.

So I decided that I would make some pancakes for my boyfriend on a lazy Sunday morning, as I was up well before him. But alas, pancakes, although delicious, are not particularly good for you. However, I did remember seeing recipes for healthy pancakes on my Pinterest that I’d been meaning to give a try. Perfect! I could still get my pancake fix and earn some brownie points, all while keeping our meals healthy.

These pancakes are super easy, and although they aren’t really the same as normal pancakes (let’s face it, how could they be as delicious?), they still rose surprisingly well and I honestly didn’t notice much difference in flavour. I wish I could say the same about my boyfriend, who decided they were too healthy for him, but I don’t think that is the pancakes fault. I think its more a dislike for healthy food in general. And nothing that maple syrup and peanut butter couldn’t fix!

I chose this recipe as it used oats and bananas as a base, which are ingredients I tend to always have in the house, rather than specialty gluten free flours. There are a lot of recipes out there for healthy pancakes that have about 20 ingredients, which I don’t think is worth the effort. I found these super simple to make, and the recipe yielded beautiful, light pancakes which were surprisingly filling.

So here it is, the easy and quick recipe for perfect, healthy pancakes!

Guilt Free Pancakes

Adapted from Running with Spoons

Time: 5 minutes preparation + 15 minutes cooking

Serves: 12 medium sized pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 medium ripe banana – I used two small, overripe bananas. You really want bananas that are nice and soft to ensure you get the best flavour out of them
• 4 egg whites
• ½ cup of natural yogurt – The recipe called for greek yogurt which I didn’t have. I think you could use either and it would work. Natural worked beautifully and was good as it didn’t have a strong flavour
• 4 Tablespoons of Almond Milk
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Get all your ingredients together and put them into a blender in order. Blend on high until the batter is smooth and frothy, for about a minute. You could also do this in a food processor if you don’t have a blender. Here is the before and after (it didn’t look that appetising before I belnded it, but trust me it does get better!            
2. Heat a frypan on a medium heat and spray with canola oil or another cooking oil. The frypan needs to be nice and hot before you start cooking.
3. Using a ladle, a measuring cup, or your own judgement (like I did), pour the batter into the frypan. I found using the blender made it really easy to pour the batter in until I got the size I wanted.
4. Cook on the first side until bubbles form and begin to pop in the middle. This took about a minute and a half. Use your own judgement though.
5. Flip the pancake with a spatula, trying not to flip the pancake on itself, or spilling batter everywhere. Cook on this side for about a minute, or until you can easily lift it out of the pan with a spatula.
6. Repeat with the remaining batter. I found I needed to spray the pan with oil every 2 pancakes to prevent the batter from sticking.
7. Serve with your favourite toppings. I served with maple syrup, berries, peanut butter and nutella.

There you have it! The recipe is really simple, especially with the use of the blender. It made the recipe really quick and easy to make, and also minimised washing up, which is a plus when you are feeling a little hungover yourself!

I wouldn’t say that my boyfriend was singing praise for these pancakes from the rooftop, as he has just about the biggest sweet tooth I’ve ever known. I would certainly still opt for a nice big serve of buttermilk pancakes. But these were actually quite delicious. They had a similar taste and texture to regular pancakes, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. Plus, they are guilt free which is always a winner in my books!

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it!

Happy baking!