Dark, Sweet and just a little bit Spicy Pancakes

So this is a recipe for (naturally gluten-free) chocolate buckwheat pancakes with a little pinch of ginger and cinnamon thrown in for good measure.

Before I get into the whys and wherefores of these pancakes I want to quickly mention protein.

Protein, Protein, Protein

So on the recipe posts here, since about last November, I have kind of been harping on about protein. Because I discovered that you’re meant to consume roughly .36 grams of protein for every pound that you weigh.

I worked out how much protein I consume usually and even though I’m overweight I normally don’t consume anything like the right amount of protein for someone my weight. Or at least I didn’t before last November. This is not typical. Most people who are not under-weight consume plenty of protein.

I don’t follow a high protein diet. I’ve never had a protein shake or taken protein supplements. All I’m doing now is making a conscious effort to eat the right amount of protein for my body weight by including protein-rich foods into my daily diet. And honestly I feel a lot better since doing this consistently.

But following a high protein diet, where you eat substantially more protein than your body weight requires, unless you are a athlete or a bodybuilder or something along those lines, may not be such a good idea. I just read an article, Protein mania: the rich world’s new diet obsession, which is basically pointing out that most people in well-off countries do consume enough protein, that the food industry is pushing processed protein-rich foods, that more protein isn’t always “better” – and that high protein diets may shorten your lifespan??? Yikes. So I thought I should share a link to that article. It’s a long read.

All I’m saying is I feel better eating the right amount of protein for my body weight.

Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes

Buckwheat pancakes are naturally gluten-free. They taste different to wheat pancakes and they have a heavier feel. But they are tasty. They can be made savoury or sweet. I think they taste best with a filling that is a mix of sharp and creamy flavours.

I was planning to make a batch of savoury and sweet ones. For the savoury ones I was going to fill them with sliced brussel sprouts and mushroom fried in some garlic, cream and nutmeg, add some grated Gruyère and top with a fried egg. And for the sweet ones I was going to carmelise some apple and add a little cream whipped up with natural yoghurt.

When I was in the supermarket buying stuff I bought some frozen strawberries and raspberries to make some Red Witches crumbles on these cold evenings. Then I sort of ran out of time and didn’t feel like having the savoury pancake option. And what I really wanted was a Red Witch crumble…

And some chocolate. I kinda wanted some chocolate.

So…

I decided to make chocolate buckwheat pancakes (with just a pinch of cinnamon and ginger) and fill them with the strawberries and raspberries stew with some grated stem ginger and syrup, and some cream whipped up with natural yoghurt and vanilla bean paste.

The result? Very tasty. I like them a lot.

One word of warning though. I haven’t made pancakes in years. There is a bit of knack to cooking them. I had forgotten that knack until I had used up half the batter. For me the first pancake is always wrong. But with this it took me three pancakes before I actually had something that looked properly round and pancake-like. This recipe only makes 6 – 8 pancakes – so if you don’t have the knack art of frying panckes down yourself you might want to increase the quantities in the recipe to ensure you get a good number of pancakes.