Vanilla quinoa and almond pancakes

Quinoa is a funny little grain - a seed in fact, highly nutritious, and a good wheat-free alternative to couscous for me. It has a distinct fresh nutty flavour though, so I've been a bit wary about including it in sweet recipes. The vanilla and honey in this recipe balances the quinoa flakes quite nicely, though. Served up with cinnamon-raisin apple compote, it is good eats!

On to the recipe, then - pretty simple, and with almond flour (ground almonds, here) to make 'em moist and delicious, and only a little honey to sweeten them. I also recently picked up some cup measuring gadgets, as my actual cups and mugs I was using are a range of sizes and not much use for anyone else to go by - so the below should measure up nicely!

Vanilla quinoa pancakes

There's no starch acting as a binder in this, so little drop pancakes work better than full sized ones. I'll leave it to you to experiment, though.

1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup thin coconut milk (unsweetened almond and rice milks also work here)

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence (if you can find vanilla bean extract, that is the best)
2 tsp light honey (orange blossom or acacia works well)
1 medium egg
Coconut oil for frying (else grapeseed is okay, and less coconutty if you don't care for that)

First measure out the 1/2 cup quinoa flakes into a mixing bowl, then add the 1/2 cup coconut milk and leave to soak for 5 - 10mins. (Use this time to make some compote - apple recipe as below!)

Measure out the 1/2 cup of almond flour and stir into the now softened quinoa flakes.

Tip in the 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Mix in.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg with the vanilla essence and the honey. When combined, tip into the mixing bowl with the other ingredients and stir together.

Heat up a small frying pan over a medium heat. Add 1/2 tsp of coconut oil, let it melt and swirl it about the pan. Drop in the pancake mixture as 1 - 2 dsp dollops, smoothing slightly to form about 5mm thick little pancakes, measure 3 - 4" across. They should be lightly sizzling straight away, with little bubbles starting to form in them. If not adjust the heat accordingly.

After 1 - 2mins they should be lightly browned on one side - carefully use a fish slice or wide spatula to flip them. They'll be a little delicate but should hold fairly well. Cook the other side for 1min or so, until also lightly golden. Shimmy it off to a warmed plate, and repeat until you have the batch of pancakes you're after, adding another 1/2 tsp of coconut oil every two batches.

Serve up with some fruit compote, and if you have it a dollop of creme fraiche and a little dab of maple syrup. Or a big dab! It is delicious stuff, after all.

Cinnamon-raisin apple compote

2 dessert apples (I used royal gala)

1/8 cup of raisins

1 dsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

First core and then dice up your apples into fairly small pieces - these will remain whole after cooking. Leave on the skins! I wasn't convinced by this the first time I heard it, but for dessert apples it works really well. If you're not sure, do half and half.

Put the apple into a small pan over a medium-low heat, add the lemon juice, and toss the fruit until it's all lightly covered. Add the raisins and cinnamon, stir them in, and lastly tip in a little splash of water, just to prevent the apple at the bottom of the pan from scorching. (Just 1 - 2 dsp.) Cover and leave to cook for 10 - 15mins, stirring occasionally.

After this check on the compote, and cook for longer if you prefer it softer and more compote-like. If the mixture isn't sweet enough from the raisins for you, add a sprinkle of brown sugar. The red skin of the apple should have turned this a faintly peachy colour by now, and be lookin' pretty.

Serve up over pancakes! Enjoy. :)