The Orange Kitchen

Chocolate and Strawberry Pancake Stack.

 A few weeks ago I rather smugly thought to myself that I had created the best pancakes ever. I wasn't exactly lying to myself because I genuinely believed that they were indeed the best pancakes in the world, but I was wrong. I don't usually like admitting I'm wrong, but I will quite freely do so right now so that I can share with the rest of the world the absolute delight that is the new and improved best pancake stack in the world.

I don't know about you, but strawberries, pancakes and chocolate are pretty damn high up on my rather long list of delicious food. Sadly two of these three delicious food stuffs are not generally considered 'good for you', but what if I told you that generalisation was wrong. Well, it is because this delightful dish combines strawberries, pancakes and chocolate into one plate of yum and guess what? It is refined sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, oil free, tastes damn amazing and its jam packed full of nutritional brilliance. I bet you never thought you'd be able to have guilt free chocolate and strawberry pancakes hey? SURPRISE!!! This dish does pack a punch when it comes to the calories, so it's not the kind of thing I would recommend indulging in every day of the week, but when #pancakesunday rolls around, GAME ON.

Ingredients;

Pancakes

1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)
3 medjool dates
3 tbsp coconut sugar
3 tbsp (heaped) raw cacao powder
1 very ripe banana

1. Put the three dates, pitted, into a blender along with the almond milk. Blend on high speed for approx. 2 minutes, or until the date is broken up through the milk with no chunks!
2. In a bowl, mash the banana really well with a fork. Then add in the date and milk mixture from the blender, the flour, raw cacao powder and coconut sugar. Mix well.
3. Take a fry pan (I use a non-stick pan, so I don't use any oil, but if your pan is not non-stick, you might need to use some coconut oil if you want to avoid making burnt offerings!) and heat it to a medium temperature. The mixture should make approx. 5 pancakes in total, so roughly divide and pour the mixture with that mind.
4. Cook the pancakes for a few minutes on each side, being gentle when flipping. If you need to cook them all separately, as I do because my fry pan is on the smaller side, keep them on a tray in the oven with the oven on a low temperature just to keep the warm.
5. While the pancakes are cooking, make the chocolate sauce, as per the instructions below.

Chocolate Sauce

2 tbsp rice malt syrup
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp (heaped) raw cacao powder

+ plenty of strawberries

1. In a small bowl, combine all the chocolate sauce ingredients and mix with a spoon until well combined.


To assemble your pancake stack, take a pancake and lay it on the plate. Then between each pancake, create a layer of halved strawberries. When your stack is assembled, drizzle the chocolate sauce over the top, top with a few more strawberries (just for good measure) and then eat your heart out!!!