Golden Spice Pancakes

Thanks to everyone for your notes of concern. After three days without heat and two without any power at all, we finally got our electricity turned on at 8:00 last night–just in time to save our tropical fish, who were not looking so good. Getting the electrical panel fixed wasn’t a problem, but dealing with the overworked building permit office and the bureaucracy-bound power company was a nightmare. It took a day and a half after everything was fixed to get them to come out and turn the power back on. The whole ordeal is almost enough to make me want to run away to the woods and build my own solar power generator.

Fortunately, in the days leading up to our power outage I was able to get a little cooking done. On Sunday morning, I made these fluffy, lightly spiced pancakes, based on the Basic Pancakes recipe in Bryanna Clark Grogan’s The (Almost) No Fat Cookbook. Someone recently asked in the comments if there were any fat-free vegan cookbooks, and the answer is a resounding Yes. For years, (Almost) No Fat and another Bryanna book, 20 Minutes to Dinner, were my fat-free bibles. Her recipes have just the right balance of healthiness and deliciousness, something mine can only aspire to. As far as I’m concerned, she will always be the queen of low-fat vegan cooking.

Golden Spice Pancakes
(printer-friendly version)

For these pancakes, I’ve added freshly grated orange peel to ramp up the fresh orange taste and spiced the batter lightly with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I prefer the spice to be just an accent to the orange, not overwhelming, so if you want really spicy pancakes, you’ll have to add more.

1 cup unbleached flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat; ww pastry flour is another good option)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
1 teaspoon orange rind (freshly grated orange peel)
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup golden raisins (optional)

Spray a non-stick frying pan or griddle lightly with canola oil, and begin heating it on medium-high. Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients (flours through cloves) and add the rind, juice, and raisins to a well in the center. Mix briefly, just until combined (a few lumps are okay).

When the skillet is hot, drop the batter by quarter-cupfuls and cook until the tops are beginning to bubble. Turn and cook a couple more minutes until the underside is golden and the inside is cooked. Serve immediately.

Makes about 10 pancakes. Each one contains 121 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 27g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 269mg Sodium; 2g Fiber.

Without raisins: 109 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 24g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 268mg Sodium; 2g Fiber.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free