Gluten Free Blender Pancakes

Aahhhh...  The smell of a stack of hot pancakes on a Sunday morning is so inviting.  When Krys and I first married I was always working and I rarely if ever was able to enjoy a good breakfast.  It was always up out of bed at 3AM, grab a breakfast hot dog at the gas station, rush to work and drink a pot of coffee waiting for lunch.  After a few years of that nonsense I tired on occasion to make pancakes on the mornings I was able to spend at home.  First I'd crack open a box of mix that only I seemed to like.  Then I'd make a horrible mess of the kitchen mixing the ingredients.  Finally I would cook the pancakes and serve them to my beautiful wife who at this point was fuming at me because I burned them (again).  I soon learned that you could buy premade frozen pancakes at the grocery store in a big sack, so we did that for a while, but I never felt satisfied by them.  I was starting to feel as if I would never enjoy a delicious stack of pancakes ever again...  And then I found this recipe.

Nothing says hearty like these quick and easy pancakes we now make on weekend mornings.  The kids love them and I really like that they aren't made from a box.  There are only a few ingredients and you are able to tweak the recipe in many ways.  This is a pretty well known recipe in the blogosphere, but it's a good fit for the group and I wanted to share it here for everyone.  After all, it just might have saved my marriage...

As for the ingredients, there isn't anything called for that you need to make a special trip to the store to find.  Rolled Oats, Milk (or a milk alternative), an Egg, a Banana, Honey, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Salt and Baking Powder are all you need.  Usually these items are readily stocked in the Gilsrud pantry.  The banana can be ripe or just ready to eat.  No green ones, however.  We want the proteins loose so we can effectively replace wheat flour and the flavor will range from a banana cake to a banana bread flavor depending on the ripeness.  We prefer a more yellow banana for this.

Gluten-Free Blender Pancakes

2 Cups Rolled Oats

1/4 tsp. Salt (optional)

1 Large or 1-1/2 Medium Bananas
1/2 - 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 or 2 Large Eggs
1-1/4 Cups Milk (or alternative)
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Your choice of Topping or Syrup

If you want to sit down and eat as a family, heat your oven to 200°F and place a serving plate (that ISN'T plastic) on the top rack.  You can stack the cakes on this plate to keep them warm until you're ready to serve.

As for our mixing directions, All of it goes in the blender.  If you have a low-end blender, I suggest you put the liquid ingredients on the bottom and dry on top.  I have a Blendtec and I highly recommend you invest in one as well.  I will be posting more recipes for blender soups and the like eventually and this blender makes so many things a breeze.  For years I had a Bosch, which was great, but small and didn't do nearly as good a job as the Blendtec.  A Vitamix is a great blender as well.  A buddy of mine owns one and we pick on each other about blender choice, but they're both quite nice.  That said, with a Blendtec or Vitamix you'll want to put the dry ingredients in first and liquid on top as pictured below.  Blend on slow speed until mixed and then ramp up the speed until a well blended batter forms.  On my blender I just use the batters button and it does it all for me.

Now heat a griddle to 350°F.  The griddle is hot enough when you drop beads of water on the griddle and they dance around.  Lightly oil the griddle with some coconut oil.  I do this by greasing a paper towel and rubbing it on the griddle surface.

Pour batter onto the griddle surface in 1/3 cup portions.  I eyeball it, pouring about 5" round cakes that settle to 6" overall.  When they start to look dry you should flip them and cook for just a little more than a minute on the other side.  You can pour large pancakes if you'd like and they will hold together when you flip them, so don't worry.  Transfer the pancakes to the heated plate in the oven until ready to serve. 

And here's how they stack up!  Pun intended, by the way...