This post was created by NPB intern Caroline Young Bearden, a student in the dietetics program at Georgia State University, and reviewed by Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RDN, LD.
Within about an hour of meeting Sherry Coleman Collins, registered dietitian for the National Peanut Board and my current preceptor, she handed me a bag of peanut flour and asked me to create a recipe with it. As a loyal peanut butter fan, I was a little uncertain about its relative, peanut flour. I had never cooked with it before, let alone created recipe from scratch. But after a few hours of racking my brain, I decided to stick with something I love and eat often- pancakes!
For inspiration, I went back in time to when I was a single lady living on her own and almost always cooking for one. Tired of my oatmeal, I tried out a simple yet nutritious spin on typical pancakes. I called it the oatmeal “power pancake,” which had a base of oats, an egg and peanut butter.
My Pancake Guinea Pig
Once I had my idea, I started to play around with the ingredients and used my very patient husband as my pancake guinea pig. The peanut flour gave the pancakes a much smoother consistency than when I used peanut butter. Plus, the flour blended quickly and easily with the other ingredients. At first, I was planning on making them cinnamon raisin peanut pancakes. After the first go-round, I quickly realized I needed to include chocolate chips, because nothing goes together like peanuts and chocolate (my husband agreed). The second time around, they tasted great, but the cakes were too thick to flip well and the sauce was a little thinner than I wanted.
In the PeanutRD Kitchen
Hoping that Sherry would love the new take on my old power pancake, I headed over to the PeanutRD kitchen to cook them for the third time. Right away, she asked if I wanted to add maple syrup and try reducing the sauce. Genius! There was the answer to thickening up my sauce. Plus, the taste combination of peanut powder, maple and chocolate is irresistible. I also decided to cut the quinoa in half (from 1/2-cup to 1/4 –cup) and add the baking powder for leavening, both of which made these pancakes stick together beautifully.
Adult and kid-friendly, these nutrient-dense pancakes are full of protein from the egg, quinoa and milk. Plus, the peanut powder has about 5.5 grams protein, and only 1.3 grams fat and just 45 calories. They are also gluten free for anyone who needs that. Oh, and they even provide a serving of fruit! Enjoy.
The Recipe: Peanut Powder Pancakes with Chocolate Chips and Maple Peanut Sauce
Start to finish: 15-20 minutes
Serving Size: 2-3 small pancakes and about 2 tablespoons sauce
Yield: 2 servings of pancakes and 3 servings of sauce
Pancake Ingredients:
1 medium banana
1 egg
2 Tbsp. peanut flour &
¼ cup cooked quinoa
1 Tbsp. ground flax
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1-1.5 Tbsp. dark chocolate chips
Sauce Ingredients:
1/3 cup milk
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
4 Tbsp. peanut flour for sauce
Preparation:
To make sauce, whisk milk, maple syrup and 3 Tbsp. peanut flour. To reduce sauce, heat a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, while the sauce is reducing, preheat nonstick pan over medium heat. In a bowl, mash banana and combine with egg. Add rest of ingredients except chocolate chips and stir well to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Spray nonstick pan with cooking spray and heat on stove over medium heat. Spoon batter into pan in ¼-cup, separating into six small cakes. Cook until pancakes start to bubble around the edges, gently flip, and cook for 3-5 minutes on other side. Drizzle with about one-third of sauce, add fresh berries if you like, and enjoy! Save the rest of the sauce for later.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories: 315
Fat: 13g
Saturated Fat: 4.5g
Cholesterol: 95mg
Carbohydrates: 42g
Protein: 11g
Fiber: 5.5g