My friend, Becky, and I team up once a month with a theme and then we come up with a recipe.This month I chose the theme, Easter. Be sure to hop on over and check out her amazing recipe for Quick Pickled Asparagus.
Easter is coming up in a few days, so I have been thinking about our menu a little bit. My son only cares about making a cake with Cadbury mini eggs on top (hold the coconut). My girls will eat just about anything. My husband wants Design Mom’s slow cooker ham again. I’m thinking more about what I want to make for breakfast than anything else. But I’m pretty sure it’s going to include pancakes in some form. For weeks and weeks I’ve been craving strawberry rhubarb compote over a stack of buckwheat pancakes. You know how it goes, right? You start thinking about that (insert craving here) and you can’t shake it. (And I’m not even pregnant!) So there I was in front of my open refrigerator, staring at the rhubarb and package of fresh strawberries, and before I knew it the compote was bubbling away on the stove and I was flipping pancakes.
All was right in the world for that moment.
I really, super-duper love rhubarb, and especially when it includes strawberries. It’s a childhood favorite wrought with pleasant memories of my maternal grandmother. It just means spring to me, which also reminds me of my grandma.
So let’s talk about the compote because the pancakes, while very delicious, were more about just being a vehicle for the compote. I wanted it to be sweet, but not too sweet. Rhubarb is pretty tart and usually you need a ton of sugar to balance things out. I used maple syrup and coconut sugar. They were a great way to go because they added a lot of depth to the compote without overwhelming sweetness. It was just right. I also added a bit of vanilla bean paste ’cause that’s how I’m rolling these days in the vanilla department. Good, good stuff.
So over the next few days we’ll continue to discuss what our contribution to Easter Dinner will be and we’ll get to making the special cake (also inspired by my maternal grandmother) and enjoy (will we? that’s the question!) Spring Break and bask in the warmer weather and beautiful blossoms. (And eat way too many pancakes, I hope.)
Gluten Free Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote
Simple gluten-free pancakes made from nutty buckwheat flour and fiber-rich coconut flour topped with a naturally sweetened fruity compote.
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- For compote:
- 1 cup sliced rhubarb
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- For pancakes:
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 Tablespoons avocado or another flavorless oil, plus more for cooking
Instructions
- For compote – place all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook until thickened and syrupy. Remove from heat and keep warm until ready to serve.
- For pancakes – whisk dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk coconut milk, eggs, and oil. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. Some lumps will remain.
- Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle. Add a little oil. Ladle 1/3 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet or griddle. Let cook for 2 minutes or so. They will be ready to flip when the bubbles start to pop and the edges look set.
- Place pancakes on a plate or in a warm oven until ready to serve.
- To serve – top pancakes with the compote.
- Yields: 8-10 six-inch pancakes and about 2 cups compote
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Breakfast, brunch
- Cuisine: American
12 Comments
Linds! These look wonderful. I too adore rhubarb. Just made a pie last night and wishing I had more to make this compote!
Thanks for teaming up. Lovely photos and beautiful memories. :)
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I just made these and they turned out great! Good flavor, good texture, good behavior on the griddle (holding together, staying the right thickness, etc.) I didn’t make the compote–I was just looking for a pancake recipe that used coconut flour and buckwheat flour, and this popped up at the top of my Google search.
I tried to follow the recipe exactly, but I used unsweetened almond milk, organic cane sugar, and melted butter because that’s what I had. I figured those substitutions should be safe. I’ve read about the importance of eggs in coconut flour recipes, so I thought about adding one more, but decided to leave it as it was. A couple of my pancakes tore a bit while I was handling them, so I may try one more egg next time…or maybe not. =)
Thanks very much! It’s nice to quickly find the recipe I want and have it turn out well the first time.
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Oh, I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for coming back to report, Diane!
These were delicious! I did find the texture of the insides quite gooey. I cooked them for as long as I could without burning them. Is that how they are supposed to be. Im new to this gluten free grain free cooking. Thanks for the great recipe!
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Hi Jolene! I’m so glad you enjoyed these and I’m sorry the texture inside was gooey. Two things for next time – lower the temperature of your griddle or pan and let the pancakes cook a little longer on the first side before you turn them, and the second is to try adding a little more liquid to make the batter a little thinner. Either or those or together should help prevent the gooey inside. I’m actually making these for breakfast this morning! :) Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for this recipe – no luck for me – the pancakes just fell apart and were pretty gooey, but I think that might be because I am new to this kind of cooking – my pancake mixture was very thick even though I added more liquid, so reading above perhaps that was the problem. I also substituted cinnamon for the sugar, which had a nice taste, but perhaps that had something to do with it – will try these again and try adding more liquid/egg next time.
Cath
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I’m so sorry they didn’t work for you, Cath! GF pancakes can be finicky for sure. Feel free to email me if you need to!
Cath, I made these again this morning and I’m going to add in some more tips on making these. Diane (see comment at the top) mentioned adding an extra egg. I did that and it worked well. I tested out a bunch of different things – size, amount of oil, and temperature of pan/griddle.
The best size for these is about 3-inches in diameter which translates to about 2 Tablespoons of batter. I found that using a good amount of coconut oil, more than a drizzle but not so much they were swimming in it, in a non-stick pan over medium heat worked best. (My griddle stopped working a few months ago and I haven’t replaced it yet.) It allowed enough time for the pancakes to brown on the first side, but cook through enough that they didn’t tear or fall apart when I turned them. The bigger pancakes were too brown, almost burnt, when I turned them. And if I turned them too soon, they did fall apart.
I’m thinking that I would like to try adding even another egg and reducing the liquid a little more, too, to see if that helps them hold together better. They will still be pretty tender and hot hold together like pancakes made with wheat flour. I considered adding a little xanthan gum, but wanted to keep this recipe free of gums and stabilizers. The extra eggs should take care of that.
Hey ya, I made this this morn and it was amazing! But i add matcha powder to make greentea pancakes, and use blueberries instead of strawberries . I’ve included my link to instagram to show you my creation! Thanks for sharing the recipe! x
https://instagram.com/p/-DSxl6oDC8/
Awe, I don’t know what went wrong, two cups of milk made my batter incredibly runny and made flat, mushy pancakes :(
I will try again using one cup liquid. I am an avid baker, measured out exact ingredients so I am not sure what went wrong.
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Awesome! So happy to have them hold together and healthy! Thank you so much!
I didn’t use any sugar in the batter-just topping up wh home made Nutellaand had coconut oil for frying…
Very good flavor even without the compote. I used buttermilk instead because why not. The pancakes cooked in just under 7.5 minute slitting the time for both sides. The bubbles are a good indicator but just a few or they burn. These are pretty fragile to flip but not impossible. Just make them with a small diameter. This seems to be the case with coconut flour. I cut a lime on my plates or water and the bit of lime flavor left behind with the pancakes was a splendid surprise. Coconut- lime- Lada. :)
★★★★★