Whole Grain Heart Pancakes--A Healthy Breakfast for Valentine's Day




Whole Grain Heart-shaped Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup and powdered sugar

Heart Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup and Buttermilk Syrup. Mmmm!

So here at Grain Crazy we decided to make Valentine's season start a little earlier so it can last longer. It is one of our favorite times of the year. It is also Britney's birthday, so that makes it extra special to us.   So we are going to bring you some healthier options for Valentine's Day in the next couple weeks.

I used spelt flour for the pancakes, but you could substitute your favorite whole grain flour. I've included both the recipes for Strawberry Syrup and my favorite Honey Buttermilk Syrup. The pancakes are good with one, but even better with both!

Ingredients
Pancakes
2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt.)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt  optional
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2 T coconut oil
1 T honey
1 1/2 C almond milk unsweetened

Strawberry Syrup
2 1/2 C frozen strawberries, thawed
1 tsp lemon juice
3 T honey

Buttermilk Syrup
3 T butter
1/2 C honey
1/2 C buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, use 1/2 C milk and 2 tsp vinegar)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t vanilla
2 tsp almond extract (optional (but so good!))

Toppings
strawberries, cut up
sifted powdered sugar


Directions
1. Heat up griddle to about to about 300 degrees. Grease with oil.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir together with a wire whisk.

3. Add eggs, oil, honey, and milk, Stir until just mixed.

4. Pour the batter on to griddle. Cook until light golden on both sides.  Then take them off the griddle and cut into heart shapes using a cookie cutter. You can then decide what topping you want on them.  

cutting out the hearts

5. For Strawberry Syrup place the strawberries, juice and honey into blender and blend until smooth. 

6. Sift with powdered sugar if desired. 

7. For Buttermilk Syrup, place a saucepan on medium low heat. Pour in butter, buttermilk, and honey. Let the mixture come to a boil for 2 minutes. Take off the heat stir in baking soda, vanilla, and almond extract. Serve over warm pancakes.

8. Place cut up strawberries on top. 

* Cut up bananas would be delicious too.
* I found the squeeze bottle at walmart for 2 for $2.00. It makes it a fun way to apply the syrup.


You might also like to check our Strawberry Vanilla Valentine Pudding. It is such an elegant, yummy dessert!

Tasty Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes with Honey Almond Buttermilk Syrup

These pancakes were so yummy, and healthy too. It was a fun Sunday morning breakfast to make for my family. They enjoyed them too. That always makes it nice. I loved the almond honey combo in the syrup. Buttermilk syrup is the only way to go. I have found it easy to make buttermilk on the spot by adding vinegar to the milk and letting it sit 5 to 10 min. (Sometimes I don't even let it sit that long, and it still works.) It is 1T vinegar per cup of milk. Here is another version of buttermilk syrup. Kefir can be used in place of the buttermilk too.


Ingredients: Makes about 10 pancakes

2 eggs
1 C buttermilk *(1 C milk 1 T vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp coconut oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 T honey
1 1/2 to 2 C *whole grain flour
fresh blueberries

Buttermilk syrup

3 T butter
1/2 C honey
1/2 C buttermilk *(1/2 C milk 2 tsp vinegar)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t vanilla
2 tsp almond extract * optional (but so good!)


Directions:

1. Beat eggs, and then add milk, vanilla, honey and oil. Set bowl aside.

2. In a separate bowl add flour, add baking powder stir together. Slowly stir into milk mixture. Do not over stir. *(Start with 1 1/2 C flour and then add more as needed. You don't want them too thick.)

3. Heat up griddle. Spray with non stick oil. When hot pour on pancakes. You can sprinkle on blueberries before you turn them over, or you can serve the blueberries sprinkled on top of the pancakes with the syrup.

4. While the pancakes are cooking, in a separate saucepan, on med. low heat pour in butter, buttermilk, and honey. Let the mixture come to a boil for 2 min. Take off the heat stir in baking soda, vanilla, and almond extract. Serve over warm pancakes.

* Flour 4 C spelt 2 C kamut 1 C brown rice 1 C buckwheat and 1 C oat groats. I grind a large amount, and then put extra in the fridge till I need the flour again.