Bleeding Espresso

28 May 2008

what’s cooking wednesday: gluten-free banana pancakes with orange honey sauce

$Home of What\'s Cooking Wednesday$ Before we get to the recipe, for those who are still wondering what the photo of the cheese-like substance was in yesterday’s post, Jeff in Puglia got it right–it’s homemade olive oil soap!

Now, the recipe. Remember when I made Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Muffins a few weeks ago? I had some almond flour left over so I went looking for recipes for another experimental installment of What’s Cooking Wednesday.

I also wanted to use a banana that was past its prime, and by searching for “almond flour” and “banana,” I found a recipe for Banana Hotcakes with Orange Honey Sauce. I made some adjustments to the recipe, including adding mashed banana to the batter rather than simply setting slices on top of the ‘cakes.

The pancakes *with* the orange honey sauce were really good, and I’ll definitely make them again when I’m in the mood for a breakfast healthier than white flour pancakes and maple syrup (yes I have the latter flown in). These definitely had a different consistency than “normal” pancakes (a bit more grainy and chewy) but that’s to be expected with the change in flour. I was used to it and even enjoying it within two bites.

Honestly though, when I tried one of these without the syrup–um, not so good, but then again, regular pancakes aren’t very tasty without anything added either (at least to me). If for some reason I were going to eat these without syrup, I’d definitely add some sugar to the batter.

Also note that this recipe didn’t make very many pancakes–about six small ones–but *a lot* of sauce. No worries for me on the pancakes as P wasn’t home when I made them. I had plenty for my breakfast.

And the leftover sauce? I used it that afternoon in my tea and then the next day for breakfast with fresh ricotta and more strawberries kind of like this. YUM!

Gluten-free Banana Pancakes with Orange Honey Sauce

Orange Honey Sauce

1 cup honey
Juice and zest of one orange

Pancakes

1 egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 overripe banana, mashed
1 small pinch baking soda
1 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Prepare sauce by combining honey, orange juice, and zest in a saucepan and simmer until it’s thickened to syrup consistency. Put through fine sieve before pouring over pancakes. Serve warm.

2. For pancakes, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, and bananas. Add baking soda and then almond flour a bit at a time until it gets to the consistency of pancake batter. If it gets too thick, add a bit of water or milk.

3. Pour batter in (your preferred) pancake-sized circles onto hot, greased griddle.

4. Cook 2 minutes on first side until you see bubbles on top. Flip and cook another thirty seconds or minute more.

5. Serve warm with orange honey sauce on top.

Buon appetito!

17 beans of wisdom »

17 beans of wisdom to “what’s cooking wednesday: gluten-free banana pancakes with orange honey sauce”

Beatriz on 28 May 2008 at 9:09 am #

Yum! Pancakes! We love them, and we also search high and low for maple syrup around here. These look really good. Thanks for sharing.

Beatriz’s last blog post..A great book meme.

Can’t find maple syrup at all here; this orange honey is actually a really good substitute!
Joanne at frutto della passione on 28 May 2008 at 10:14 am #

Darlings,
Those would be divine with maple syrup. I get mine online or at Esselunga. 100% natural. 100% Canadiang!!
Keep those gluten free recipes coming, I have a friend that loves them, remind me what the almond flour and the coconut flour are called in Italian again?

Joanne at frutto della passione’s last blog post..Food pop culture 3

I think Cherrye and I are going to have to start taking shopping trips north

Names in Italian are super-easy–farina di mandorla e farina di cocco
Enza on 28 May 2008 at 12:42 pm #

i love when u share your gluten free recipes!! Since i can only eat gluten free, we make gluten free pancakes often and we use Quinoa flour. It’s gotten to where my boys really prefer the chewy and grainy texture over the smoother taste of regular wheat pancakes. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you enjoy them Enza! I’m happy to share, and I’m also happy to experiment with gluten-free…like I’ve said, I’m sure I eat *plenty* of white, refined flour as it is, so where I can cut it out, it must be good for me
My Mélange on 28 May 2008 at 2:16 pm #

Mmmm, sounds great. I love adding mashed banana’s to pancakes…makes them soooo moist!!! I like the idea the orange honey too!!

Lucky you…..homemade olive oil soap!! Dang you do have a nice neighbor

My Mélange’s last blog post..Travel Tip Tuesday-Destinations

The orange honey will definitely be made more often around here Robin…it’s *so* tasty

And yes my neighbor is fab!
Stefanie on 28 May 2008 at 3:50 pm #

Well, I don’t know how they taste, but they sure LOOK good! Mmm. I haven’t had breakfast yet, and now the smoothie I brought to work doesn’t sound so appealing.

Stefanie’s last blog post..Five things I have learned in the past week

Hmmm a smoothie sounds *great* to me
jen of a2eatwrite on 28 May 2008 at 4:20 pm #

I don’t know about the pancakes, since my guys already have some pancake faves and neither of them like banana pancakes (sad, but true). The orange-honey sauce, however, looks stupendous!

jen of a2eatwrite’s last blog post..What’s Cooking Wednesday – Asparagus Edition!

Jen the orange honey sauce can be used for so many things too–I don’t know if I can drink my tea without it now!
annoa2 on 28 May 2008 at 5:19 pm #

mmmm… that orange honey sauce sounds like something I might keep hidden far back on the shelves where no one else could find it, thus permitting me to spoon it straight from from the jar whenever I pleased. Those pancakes sound pretty good, too!

annoa2’s last blog post..A book meme!

I can’t tell you how much I love this sauce. I’m ready to try it with all different fruits now
LuLu on 28 May 2008 at 5:21 pm #

I so LOVE pancakes!! These look SO yummy…I might just have to give them a try!! Thanks for the recipe!!!

LuLu’s last blog post..Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread…

Let me know if you do LuLu!
Norma-ann on 28 May 2008 at 5:50 pm #

So nice and simple – they look terrific!

Norma-ann’s last blog post..(Almost) Wordless Wednesday.

Simple for sure Norma-ann; thanks!
renaedujour on 28 May 2008 at 6:10 pm #

I’m always on the look out for healthier pancakes and yours look wonderful. I’ve never tried baking with almond flour before. I’ll be looking for it now.

renaedujour’s last blog post..Puerto Rican Chicken with American Cheese

It’s more expensive than regular flour to be sure, but it’s definitely healthier!
Lulu on 29 May 2008 at 2:07 am #

Oh my…bananas and pancakes? I am in love.

Lulu’s last blog post..Nature vs. Nurture

Hee hee…they *are* tasty Lulu!
Marie on 29 May 2008 at 4:13 am #

Orange honey,Yumm I’m craving pancakes now!
Oh btw, enjoyed your article in the Notebook Michelle.

Marie’s last blog post..I’M BACK!!!!!

Thanks Marie
Wanderlust Scarlett on 29 May 2008 at 10:41 pm #

YAY! I passed this recipe along to my friend who must eat gluten free; just as I did with the last one. Great! Thanks for putting it up, they look delicious!

XO
Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Wanderlust Scarlett’s last blog post..The Rhythm of the Heart

Hope your friend enjoys the pancakes Scarlett; thanks for passing it along
Frances on 30 May 2008 at 12:31 am #

I so want to hop a plane to Calabria – much bloglove
Frances

Frances’s last blog post..quick redo underway

Come on over Frances
Michelle at Scribbit on 30 May 2008 at 7:31 am #

I’ve emailed this to my sister–looks terrific!

Michelle at Scribbit’s last blog post..Books That Taught Me to Love Reading

Hope she enjoys it Michelle
Sara on 31 May 2008 at 4:49 am #

Very interesting! I like pancakes without syrup (but with butter!), but I do put a little organic natural sugar in them, and I use canola oil, not olive oil.

I’m not sure Orange-Honey sauce is intrinsically more healthful than maple syrup, incidentally. It depends on what you’re after. Honey has more carbs, more sugars, and more calories than maple syrup, plus a higher glycemic load (harder on the pancreas) and a higher potential to cause inflammation. (Read about honey here and maple syrup here.) So what would make these more healthful would be the ingredients of the actual pancakes, and the relative amount of sauce you might use on each kind of pancake.

Sorry. I’m waxing pedantic. They actually look delightful, yes, with the sauce AND the berries. (I would totally eat them.)

Oh you know I enjoy pedantic! No need to apologize. I was definitely thinking of the relative amount of sauce/syrup I’d use…I tend to drown things in maple syrup, but didn’t use much with this. And also I buy only organic honey (made by P’s friend’s parents) as opposed to processed maple syrup…the natural *must* be better, right? Maybe?
Absolute Vanilla on 14 Dec 2008 at 4:34 pm #

Ooh, slurp, am definitely going to try making these – always so good to find tasty sounding gluten free recipes!

The honey orange glaze is *really* what makes them special