No Grains Vanilla Chai Pancakes with Vanilla Maple Cream

 

It’s snowing here this morning and it’s really cold. Like so cold that I have 2 sweatshirts on and I’m about to put a hat on. I just can’t get warm. If you want to know how I really feel about winter, read here.

 

Whenever I can’t get warm, I usually reach for a cup of my vanilla chai hot tea – my all time favorite winter tea. It smells so good and warms by body and my soul. I was savoring the last sips and smells of my favorite tea this morning while trying to decide what I wanted for breakfast. When I took the last sip, I was about to make myself another cup when the light bulb went off in my head: I bet pancakes would be amazing with this flavor!

 

So I got to work. Usually my recipes take a few experiments before they are post worthy and perfect to me, but this one was fabulous right from the first try.

 

These pancakes had that perfect vanilla chai tea flavor just like my favorite tea. Instead of using maple syrup to top my pancakes (hello – boring!), I wanted to incorporate more of that yummy vanilla so I created a really delicious vanilla maple cream that is ridiculously good (I’m already dreaming of all the things I could put that stuff on). I could seriously eat that stuff by the spoonful, but when it’s combined with these chai pancakes, it’s even more delicious.

 No Grains Vanilla Chai Pancakes with Vanilla Maple Cream

Makes 10-12  four inch pancakes

 Ingredients:

 For the pancakes:

4 eggs

¼ cup coconut milk (or any milk)

¼ cup coconut oil or butter

1 T pure maple syrup or honey

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

¼ cup coconut flour (do NOT substitute another flour – it will not work. You can find coconut flour here)

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom

½ tsp ginger

1/8 tsp allspice

pinch of black pepper

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

 

For the Vanilla Maple Cream:

½ cup coconut milk (or any milk)

¼ cup butter

1 egg yolk

1 T vanilla

1 T pure maple syrup

¼ tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

DIRECTIONS:

To make the pancakes:

Mix all the ingredients together until well blended. Let sit for a few minutes so the batter can thicken.

In a skillet, melt 1-2 T butter or coconut oil over medium low heat. Spoon the batter out into your desired size pancake. When bubble begin to appear, flip the pancake over to finish cooking.

To make the Vanilla Maple Cream:

Whisk together the egg yolk, vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir continuously until you start to see little brown bits appear on the bottom. Once this happens, immediately remove from the heat, but keep stirring for 30 more seconds. You have just created a delicious browned butter and it’s delightful!

Add the milk to the browned butter pan and put in back on the stove until it simmers. Pour half of the heated coconut/butter mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk together until well blended. Pour it back into the pot with the remaining coconut milk/butter. Turn down the heat to low and stir constantly until the mixture thickens – about 3 minutes.

Top your pancakes with the Vanilla Maple Cream and enjoy!