The funny part is that I like these pancakes even better than the gluten-free-but-not-paleo pancakes I’ve made in the past.  🙂  They’re easier to flip, thicker, and heartier, and the batter’s quicker and easier to make (as long as you have the ingredients and a food processor on hand).  Even my grandma Cathie liked these for brunch on Thanksgiving morning.  🙂

The pancakes cook best on a medium-low heat; be patient with them.  They’ll take a little while to cook, but you really do want to wait until all the bubbles have risen through the batter and popped before flipping them over.  If you want to get the whole batch cooked quickly, do four at a time if you can, more than that if you have a griddle available!

The blueberry spread is something you’ll want to make in advance (I’m gonna try my hand at canning to store it pretty soon here, actually), but you also don’t strictly need it to serve the pancakes.  You can top these pancakes with coconut cream, fruit, or even butter if you tolerate dairy.

In any case, let’s get pancaking.  🙂

EDIT:  The original recipe can be found at the bottom of this post if you still want it, but just since I put this recipe up my paleo baking game’s massively improved, so I’ve updated the recipe to reflect the way I’m making these pancakes now — with plantain flour and pear juice!  Plus, making the plantain flour in advance means you don’t need to use the food processor to make the batter!

Plantain Pancakes

Yield:  10-12 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups paleo dough mix
• 1/2 cup pear juice
• 4 eggs
• 3 T coconut oil, melted (plus extra for cooking)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp stevia powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 T vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (paleo dough mix, salt, stevia powder, and baking soda).  Add the  rest of the ingredients (melted coconut oil, eggs, vanilla, and pear juice), and whisk until fully combined.  As with normal pancake batter, a few small lumps are okay.

4.  Preheat a large flat skillet (or griddle top) to a medium-low heat.  Once it’s hot, pour 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto the pan.  (You might need to coax it into spreading out a little, but that’s okay; the batter doesn’t need to be thinned.)  Let cook for a minute or two, until bubbles have formed and popped and the top of the pancakes aren’t liquid anymore; then flip and cook a little longer on the other side.  Serve warm.

Blueberry Spread

Yield:  3-5 jars or so

Ingredients:

• 3 lb frozen blueberries (with no sugar added)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 tsp liquid stevia extract

Directions:

1.  In an extra large pot (or even, as we did, an extra large wok), thaw the blueberries on very low heat.  Stir every five or ten minutes for as long as an hour, or until the blueberries have stopped breaking down and releasing juice on their own and are well warmed through.

2.  Very carefully, use an immersion blender to puree the blueberries in the pot.  You don’t have to get them completely smooth, just process them enough to create a jam-like spread instead of lumpy liquid full of berries.

3.  Let reduce for at least another hour, stirring occasionally.

4.  Once the spread looks almost as reduced as you want (it’ll thicken on cooling), remove from heat.  Stir in the coconut cream and liquid stevia; taste.  I like it tart, my siblings like it sweet, so you can add more coconut cream or stevia if you want to.  🙂

5.  Let cool, then serve or store.

Plantain Pancakes — OLD VERSION

Yield:  14-15 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 large green plantains  (or, 1 1/2 cups paleo dough mix and 1/2 cup water)
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• either 3 T coconut oil OR 2 T cashew butter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp stevia powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 T vanilla extract
• extra virgin olive oil for cooking (or more coconut oil if you prefer)

Directions:

1.  Peel the plantains (which will mean taking a knife to them to slit the sides open), then cut them into chunks and puree them in the bowl of a food processor.

2.  Through the feed chute of the food processor, add the rest of the ingredients in no particular order — eggs, coconut cream, coconut oil or cashew butter (my sister likes the version with cashew butter better!), salt, stevia powder, baking soda, and vanilla.

3.  Puree until a fairly smooth batter is formed.  It’s okay if it looks a little grainy.

4.  Preheat a large flat skillet (or griddle top) to a medium-low heat.  Once it’s hot, pour 1/4 cup of batter at a time onto the pan.  (You might need to coax it into spreading out a little, but that’s okay; the batter doesn’t need to be thinned.)  Let cook for several minutes, until bubbles have formed and popped and the top of the pancakes aren’t liquid anymore; then flip and cook a little longer on the other side.  Serve warm.