Almond Pancakes with Blood Orange Maple Butter

I bought some almond flour to make Bouchon Bakery's Plum Tart that I had seen posted on somethingawful, and I thought, "Hmm, this might be good in pancakes!" And it was! I used a mix of all-purpose flour and almond flour so that I could still have the texture of regular pancakes, but next time I think I will increase the amount of almond flour because they could have been more almondy.

I was almost out of maple syrup, so I decided to blend the last bit with some softened butter and blood orange zest. It was a good idea. I've had these blood oranges in my fridge for months, so they're really only still good for the zest; which is why I've been making blood orange butter lately!

We, of course, had bacon with our pancakes.

Almond Pancakes
1 C flour (decrease to 3/4 C if you want, and then follow the parentheses below)
1/2 C almond flour (increase to 3/4 C)
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 T sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 C milk
1 T melted coconut oil or butter, cooled

Preheat griddle. Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and mix well until there are no lumps. Drop onto a hot griddle by 1/4 C. Cook until bubbles form all over, then flip and cook until brown. Keep warm in a low oven. Makes 10 pancakes.

Blood Orange Maple Butter
4 T butter, softened
zest of 1 blood orange (a regular orange would be fine)
2 T maple syrup

Mix everything together and slather on pancakes!

Ch ch ch ch changes (and granola!)

This blog is turning over a new leaf. The recipes contained hereafter in this blog will be delicious and also healthy. Let me clarify that by healthy, I mean good for the body and good for the soul... I mean real food for real people. I don't mean "this week eggs are bad," or "fat-free cream cheese," or "gluten-free," or "paleo/primal/caveman/throwawayyourflourAAAAH!"

Let me start with something simple. I've been making my own granola, loosely based on Alton Brown's recipe. Store-bought granola is expensive and can be full of sugar and calories (and cinnamon GROSS). My coconut & black sesame granola is none of those things.

Coconut & Black Sesame Granola
3 C (240 g) old fashioned rolled oats 
50 g black sesame seeds* 
45 g unsweetened coconut shreds 
1/2 C date puree** 
1/4 C coconut milk*** 
big pinch of salt 

Mix everything together in a big bowl (use your hands to make sure everything is well-incorporated), then spread it out on a cookie sheet and bake at 250°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning occasionally. It's not very sweet, but it's delicious, especially with some Greek yogurt and fruit (banana, pineapple, and/or mango in particular!).

Makes 10 servings. 

* You can find black sesame seeds for a great price at international markets!
** Date puree from http://healthykitchenguide.com/using-medjool-dates-instead-of-sugar-in-recipes/ (I made about 2 cups and keep what's left in the fridge). 
*** I used light coconut milk this time because it's what I happened to have on hand... because for some reason, Trader Joe's only carries light. /grumblegrumble