Simply Pure Vanilla Protein Pancakes

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #IDSimplyPure #CollectiveBias

Let’s talk about food cravings – you know what you want, you’ve been thinking about it all day and you cannot wait to get home and make whatever you’re craving.  We all have experienced that.  For one reason or the other, our bodies crave things.  Well for me I was craving pancakes but not those ginormous ones but those dainty little ones. 

I think some folks call them “Silver Dollar” cakes.  I was out all day running errands, Mr.Fantabulous was at band practice which meant when I got home I only had to make something for myself.  Now pancakes are pretty basic – flour, leavening, egg, sugar, milk/buttermilk, and maybe some vanilla.   Again these are all pretty much pantry staples… EXCEPT in my house on that particular day!

I got home only to go and get the flour out to see that my two, yes two containers that hold 25 pounds of flour were EMPTY! ANNNNNNNNNNNNND I was out of milk.  Okay, seriously this was not cool.  Sure I thought about putting my shoes (and real pants) back on but that took effort so I needed to be creative.

So that’s where my craftiness came into play.  I knew I could use regular old-fashioned oats to make flour plus the addition of the protein powder would not only add a great boost to my diet but also help with the texture.  To keep in on the “Lori would dig this” side, I opted to leave out the sugar but add in a banana for natural sweetness.  The egg was added as a binder. Now the dilemma was I didn’t have milk. BUT… I did have International Delight Simply Pure Vanilla Coffee Creamer!

If you don’t have it on hand I’ll wait. Just get in your vehicle and head down to your local Walmart and pick some up.  It’s in the Dairy aisle as you can see. *grin*

Now what I love about this dish is it’s perfect for 2 people or since these were for me, there was enough to spread out for a few days.  As I said above since I was out of flour I just went ahead and made oat flour.  You don’t need to go out and buy the pre-made stuff that’s ridiculously priced.  Just grab your old-fashioned oats, pop ’em into the food processor and grind them till powder forms.  Or, if you want, leave it a little bit chunky for texture.  I do that sometimes. It just mixes it up a bit adding that whole other level of texture.

To mix I put all of the ingredients into my protein smoothie mixer and blended to creamy and smooth.  One thing I do when making pancakes, waffles, or the like is I like to mix it all together then let it sit for 10-30 minutes, and even sometimes overnight (this is especially important if you’re making crepes!).  You see this allows the gluten to relax so the pancakes will be tender, and lets the baking powder form bubbles in the batter. But what if you use gluten-free stuff?  Doesn’t matter, you still want those air bubbles to form.  That’ll help make your pancakes from being dense sponges.

Since I wanted to be all dainty I kept mine as silver dollar size but you can most certainly make them big boy sized – go with whatever your little heart desires! 

Next, let’s talk texture.  Since these aren’t traditional pancakes they don’t have that expected pancake texture.  They are denser and almost like a thicker crepe. For me that makes them perfect for on-the-go eating – like when I’m driving to work, running around the house cooking with no real-time to sit and eat a proper meal.  You can totally hold them in your hand.

Now let’s talk syrup. I’m personally kinda funny when it comes to syrup.  I like it BUT not on pancakes/waffles/french toast.  Yeah I know I’m weird.  No, I like maple syrup in stuff – burgers with bacon, cakes, cookies, etc but definitely not as a topping.  So that meant a confectioners’ sugar glaze.  Now when I make mine I never use milk or water.  I prefer cream, to be honest – it gives it a richer flavor and it’s thicker.  I hate drippy stuff – well unless it’s an egg yolk.  BUT as my luck would have it I was out of cream so I turned to my bottle of International Delight Simply Pure Vanilla Coffee Creamer!

A few passes of the whisk and as you can see I have the perfect glaze!  It was pourable but thick so it didn’t run all over the place.  Seriously this was really, REALLY good!

So next time you want to make pancakes definitely switch it up and use International Delight Simply Pure Vanilla Coffee Creamer.  Check out some other ways you can beyond the coffee cup with this stuff!  This definitely elevates the flavor to a whole new level of awesomeness! 

It’s funny as I was editing the photos, Mr. Fantabulous says “HEY… I didn’t get any of those!”  to which I replied, “No I made them one night you were at band practice.” He then said “WAIT!  You ate ALL of them??? Honey, there must be 10 pancakes in that stack!”  I just gave him the look, enlarged the picture, and gave the look more sternly.

“Oh!  Those are baby pancakes. How cute!”  LOL so apparently a stack of ‘baby pancakes’ is acceptable.

 

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