One of the perks of quarantine life in our home, and I imagine probably in many, is that our days start a bit slower and somewhat later. The monkeys are still up at the crack of dawn, (that part hasn’t changed) but now they have lots of time to play together rather than Mr. T needing to rush out the door for school. And that means, breakfast can also be at a bit more of a relaxed pace, (if you don’t count our always hungry 3 year-old repeating how starving she is.) Well lucky for her, more time in the morning equals more time for pancakes. Lot and lots of them. In all forms imaginable. (Which usually btw, makes little Miss Sparkle happy enough to muster up a little patience.) One of our current favorites- these Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes I want to share with you today.
These breakfast treats are fluffy and light and have a subtle irrisistible sweetness with the most perfectly crisp edges. I dare you not to finish the first one right off the pan when just intending to ”taste it” for quality control purposes. (I got called out on it by the kids who found their way to the kitchen by following the sweet pancake scent which had wafted through the air all the way to the back bedroom.) I promise that’s usually not my style, I do try to always serve them first, ahem. ( After all, if you’re gonna eat a pancake, you gotta have the syrup right?) But not these guys, don’t get me wrong, the addition of some maple syrup really takes them up a notch, but they are really quite impressive on their own.
I first saw this recipe on the always amazing Smitten Kitchen blog, which had slightly adapted it from Kim Boyce’s Good To The Grain cookbook. The thought of oatmeal in a pancake made perfect sense to me. We put oats and ground oats in pancakes, so why not oatmeal. It seemed they would be all the more light and airy with the oats being hydrated. And I was right. (Well, Kim was right.) They really are so good and the moisture and slight chewiness of the cooked oats gives them that “hmm what’s in there” quality. I’m telling you, you too, will be sure to make an extra cup of oatmeal from now on when having a bowl of the healthy grains for breakfast. But don’t worry, if you make these for any anti-healthy pancake lover, I guarantee a) they’d love them and b) wouldn’t think they are made with oatmeal or even whole wheat flour. And I’d bet, they’d probably want the recipe too.
I found the original recipe to be quite perfect. But after making them a few times, I decided to make a few tiny tweaks to make them the slightest bit healthier. These corona days at home are filled with a lot more carbs and treat baking after all. Gotta get in the healthy stuff anywhere we can. So my changes included adding whole wheat flour, then maple syrup for some of the white sugar and a little more milk to account for the thicker flour. (I would have gone all maple syrup, but we’ve got to ration the precious tree sap here.) I haven’t tried replacing all the ap flour with whole wheat, but I imagine, you’d still have quite a delicious pancake. Sometimes we add chia seeds though, and that’s quite good too. Either way, do give these a try. And please share any note-worthy “healthy” additions you make that work for you.
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (90g) oat flour (or process 1 cup oats to a fine grind to equal 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup (60g) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (64g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp (12g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 2 tbsps maple syrup
- 2 lg eggs, slighlty whisked
- 1 cup cooked oatmeal
- 3 tbsps (42g) butter, melted & cooled slightly *plus extra for the pan
Instructions
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In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients- oat flour, whole wheat & all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
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In a small bowl, combine the milk, maple syrup, whisked eggs, oatmeal and melted butter. Stir to combine.
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Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. (Be careful not to overmix in order to have the most tender pancakes possible.) The batter will be a bit lumpy.
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Heat a 10” cast iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed in. Grease the pan with a little butter and pour about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan. You should fit about 3 pancakes in the pan. Cook until you see bubbles form on the top surface of the pancake, then flip and cook a minute or so more until the under side is golden brown.
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Continue with the rest of the batter and serve the pancakes hot straight from the pan. Any leftovers can be wrapped and reheated in a low oven the next day.
Recipe Notes
*Notes from the original recipe-
- ”Although the batter is best if used immediately, it can sit for up to 1 hour on the counter or overnight in the refrigerator. When you return to the batter, it will be very thick and should be thinned, 1 tablespoon at a time, with milk—take great care to not overmix.”
- ”If you don’t have any cooked oatmeal on hand, make a quick batch. In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water, 1 cup of whole rolled oats, and a pinch of salt to a boil. Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes, then cool on the stove while you continue with this recipe. You’ll have some extra oatmeal, which you can eat while you’re cooking or save for another recipe.”
*Recipe slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen & Good To The Grain
