Fluffy Gluten-free Pancakes

My family loves pancakes for breakfast on weekends.  We often use Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix to cook up a batch.  They turn out thick and fluffy – just the way we like them.

We also like to experiment by adding different ingredients.  We’ve tried pumpkin pancakes, apple-cinnamon pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes all with great results.  Luckily, gluten-free pancakes are one of those things that can turn out just as good as pancakes made with wheat flour.

But Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix has corn flour in it, and I have a good friend who cannot have corn (in addition to gluten).  She was new to cooking gluten-free and asked me if I had a recipe for gluten-free pancakes that didn’t have corn flour in it.  I didn’t, but I looked at some wheat-flour recipes for pancakes and realized that it wouldn’t be difficult to make them gluten-free.  Here’s what I came up with:

Gluten-Free Pancake Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (muffin/cake blend)
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 tsp baking powder ** (see note below)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup milk, lukewarm (we use rice milk)
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix all wet ingredients.  Add to dry ingredients and mix well.  If batter is too thick, simply add more milk, a bit at a time, and keep mixing.
3. Let batter rest while you preheat a non-stick pan and spray with cooking spray.
4. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter onto pan and cook until bubbles begin to break.  Flip over and cook for another minute or so until both sides are light brown.
5. Serve immediately with your favorite toppings, such as butter and warmed maple syrup.

** Note: To make your own baking powder (without cornstarch), use 1/4 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (equivalent of 1 tsp baking powder).

Variations

Pumpkin pancakes: Add 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or use 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp cloves).

Apple-cinnamon pancakes: Add 1/2 cup applesauce and 1 tsp cinnamon to the regular recipe, above.

Chocolate Chip pancakes: After pouring batter on the pan, sprinkle pancakes with small-to-medium sized chocolate chips.  Flip pancakes over and continue cooking.  Serve chocolate chip side up. Pancakes with smiley faces on them are the first to be eaten.

Delicious, thick and fluffy gluten-free pancakes are a great way to begin the weekend!

My gluten-free pancake recipe – as with most of my recipes – freezes and reheats well.  I often have frozen pancakes on hand to serve for breakfast during the week.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think!