Sunday means one thing in out house: pancakes. Every week my little one wakes up asking “Can I help mix the ingredients?” I must admit that at this point I don’t even measure anything when I make our usual pancakes, just add some flour, baking powder, eggs, milk… you get the idea. Every once in a while though, I like to shake things up and “go fancy”. This is a perfect recipe for this. There are a few simple rules for making great pancakes: only flip once, don’t flip too early, and separate your eggs, beating the whites before adding them to the batter. I completely admit that I hardly ever follow this last rule (I am usually quite lazy Sunday mornings), BUT, it does produce light ethereal pancakes. I did say I was making fancy pancakes so I went the extra step and whipped my whites.
So when you want something a little special, try this one out.
TOASTED COCONUT PANCAKES
use unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, separated
1 1/2 C coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp dark rum (optional ,but tasty)
1/2 C unsweetened coconut, toasted until light golden brown
Place all of the ingredients except the eggs whites into a bowl and mix to combine. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold into the batter. Lightly grease a frying pan with butter over medium low heat. Cook about 1/4 cup of batter at a time, about 3 minutes per side. You want to see air bubbles al over the top of the pancake before flipping it. Keep them warm in a 200 F oven while you finish making the rest.
I went one step further with this and made a tropical sauce for these babies but I am sure they would taste great with maple syrup as well.
don't flip until you see the air bubbles on top
TROPICAL SAUCE
1 Very ripe banana (I had one in the freezer)
1/4 C passionfruit concentrate (or you could use orange juice concentrate)
1/2 C coconut milk
1/2 C heavy cream (or half and half)
1/4 C toasted coconut
1/4 C brown sugar
1 Tbsp dark rum (optional, but again, tasty)
Puree the banana and mix it with the other ingredients. Heat over a low heat for about 15 minutes before serving.
they should be nice and golden after the flip
