Fruity Oat Pancakes by Jo Pratt

Weekends aren’t complete in our house without pancakes at least one morning. As much as the kids love the bigger crepe style pancakes, they’ll always top them with the same thing each time (Golden Syrup for Rosa, and Chocolate and Hazelnut spread for Olly). So, to vary things up and bring in some more nutritional goodness I like to make smaller thicker American style pancakes from time to time, flavouring them with fruits, using different flours and different toppings.  

I first made these particular pancakes when a couple of the kids friends were staying over and one is gluten and dairy intolerant. Rather than make them a separate batch of pancakes, I made a double batch of these for everyone, and luckily they were a huge success all round. 

Jo x

Fruity Oat Pancakes 

4-6 large or 10-12 small pancakes 

(vegetarian/dairy-free/gluten-free/nut-free) 

Ingredients 

To serve: 

Method 

1. Put the oats and baking powder into a blender or food processor and blitz until powdery like flour. 
2. Add just 100ml/3 ½ floz of the oat milk, eggs, banana and vanilla, and blend until you have a smooth thick batter. The consistency needs to be able to drop off a spoon and not spread too far in the pan. Add the additional 25ml/1 floz oat milk if needed. 
3. Heat a large pancake or frying pan over a high heat. Once the pan is hot, reduce the heat to medium and add a good drizzle of the oil. Swirl to cover the surface, then dollop spoonful’s of the batter into the pan. 
4. Cook for a couple of minutes or so until small bubbles appear on the surface around the blueberries. Carefully flip each pancake over a cook for a further minute.  
5. Keep the pancakes warm while you cook the remaining pancakes in the hot oiled pan until all of the mixture has been used. 
6. Serve hot drizzled with syrup or honey of your choice, and extra blueberries and slices of banana. 

Flexible… 

Vegan: the eggs can be replaced with ground flaxseed. Simply mix 2 tbsp ground flaxseed with 6 tbsp water. Leave to sit for 15 minutes to thicken and become gel-like. Add to the pancake mixture as you would the eggs.  

Other fruits: blueberries can be replaced by all sort of soft fruits,  fresh or frozen, such as raspberries, blackberries, chopped strawberries, halved and pitted cherries or sliced banana.  

Chocolatey: for chocolate fans, you can add 2 tbsp cocoa powder when making the batter. You may need a little more oat milk if it seems a little too thick. I love to add slices of banana to the chocolate pancakes rather than fresh berries.