Craving pancakes

I let a little too much time slip by before I got to my typical morning smoothie; it was getting late, and suddenly I was starving and craving pancakes. I tried to dissuade myself but it was no use — PANCAKES was all I could think about. It probably had something to do with the small, round waffle iron ($4!) I didn't buy at a recent estate sale, and a pancake craving was how my brain was handling the decision not to acquire another kitchen plaything. If you can't have waffles, then pancakes are the next best thing. And they would be gluten-free pancakes — without xanthan gum.

I set about cooking like I often do, without bothering to look up a recipe, which isn't always the best plan when using gluten-free flour. Lucky for me, it worked. I used approximately 1-1/4 cups of Bob's Red Mill GF Baking Mix, plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder, a tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt for the dry mix, and two tablespoons of chia seeds plus four tablespoons of hemp seeds blended with a cup of water in the VitaMix, for the liquid. I happen to have black chia because that's what was inside the bag I got at Costco, so the liquid was an alarming shade of grey. It was OK, though, because the pancakes came out looking like whole wheat, not a scary grey color. When I mixed the batter, I ended up adding extra water because it was too thick, as I expected it would probably be. I also added a little vanilla extract and about a teaspoon of canola oil.

The pancakes were cooked on a hot, cast iron griddle (lightly oiled for the first batch) and they didn't stick at all, which surprised me. I thought they were delicious, but maybe a little too hemp-y for some people who may not be used to the flavor of hemp. Maybe even too hemp-y for me. (My husband loved them, and he never eats hemp, so I could be wrong about that.) I would use almond milk next time, and possibly add just one tablespoon of hemp — like I do when making smoothies. Otherwise, with some maple syrup, the pancakes were great. Playing in the kitchen is fun.

I just wish I'd bought the waffle iron . . .