Dairy-free, Barley-Oat Pecan Pancakes with Homemade Applesauce

This morning, my husband was home for breakfast. So, we celebrated with a rare treat, delicious Barley Oat Pancakes with Homemade Applesauce. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know by now that I don't buy many pre-made packaged products and this is no exception. But, that doesn't mean it has to be difficult.

I don't usually like pancakes - simply because only 1 leaves me feeling full and kind of sluggish for the rest of the day. This recipe is a nice alternative. The dairy-free version tastes lighter and has a better flavor overall.

The original recipe appears on the back of the Arrowhead Mills Barley flour package. But, I made a few changes to include almond milk, remove oil (since you're cooking with oil anyway) and add pecans. Barley flour and oat flour are available in most health food stores. However, you don't have to buy oat flour. If you have rolled oats at home, just whiz them around in a food processor till they are flour-like. And - presto! Oat flour. You can also use less honey or leave it out since you'll probably be putting something sweet on top of the cakes anyway, like my homemade applesauce - which you can find here.

Enjoy!

Dairy-free Barley Pancakes

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 c. Barley flour

1 c. Oat flour

1 T. aluminum free baking powder

1 t. fine sea salt

1 c. chopped pecans

2 T. Honey (optional)

2 eggs or 1/2 c. egg substitute*

1 3/4 c. almond milk

2 t. vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Mix together dry ingredients and whisk thoroughly

2. Whisk eggs and mix with other wet ingredients

3. Gently fold wet ingredients into the dry.

4. Cook pancakes by 1/2 cup fulls on a lightly oiled skillet or griddle on medium heat. On my electric stove, that's somewhere between 4-6. If you're doubling this recipe, a griddle would be a great choice. It really shortens cooking times.

Here's the secret to good pancakes.

Make sure your pan is good and hot before you start cooking your pancakes.

Pour the batter in the pan. When the surface of the pancake begins to show bubbles, flip the pancake. After you flip the cake, it'll be done very quickly so keep an eye out.

If your first pancake burns, just turn down the heat for the next one. The first one's usually experimental anyway. 

Also - once I start cooking the pancakes, I only oil the pan if it dries out and the cakes seem they might stick.

**Egg substitute - 2 T. ground flax seed in 1/2 c. water. Mix it when you start measuring ingredients so it has time to get squishy like eggs.