Granola Nut Pancakes

Pancakes are an essential part of life here.  We eat them for dinner, breakfast and just about anytime, really.  When we are doing a long run or running a race, pancakes are always for breakfast.

So, knowing we'd be running 13 miles with friends to ring in the new year, I knew pancakes were for breakfast, but I wanted to do something different.  We usually have our grain and nut combo pancakes before races, so I thought that it would be fun to do a twist on that.  And, so, granola nut pancakes were created.



I think hubby was a little concerned.  I've tried mixing granola into other favorites before with mixed results.  My last effort was a berry tart with granola crust and it was a fail.  But, undaunted, I set to work tweaking the recipe...and guess what?  Deliciousness.  Hubby agreed.  A pancake or two later and we were all set to run.

Here's the recipe I created...I'm sure adjustments could be made if needed, but the yogurt/milk combo produced a light and fluffy but yet dense enough to handle the granola batter that was near perfect.  But if you've only got milk on hand, it should be able to work, buttermilk might be better though.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour


• 3/4 cup of any flavor of granola, ground in a food processor as finely as possible (I used Organic Banana Nut but avoided adding the dried bananas because I didn't want that to be the whole flavor and it tends to take over)


• 2 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 cup milk


• 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt


• 1/4 cup organic canola oil


• 1 egg


• 1/4 cup walnuts, ground to a flour consistency

Directions

1. Heat griddle to 350 degrees


2. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls.


3. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and gently fold together.  Don't overwork the batter.


4. Lightly spray or grease griddle


5. Pour pancakes onto griddle.  Cook about 3-4 minutes each side, or until edges are dry and center is bubbling.


6. Serve with whatever topping you choose.

Some notes:  I did NOT include any additional sugar to this recipe, and it was plenty sweet with the vanilla yogurt and the granola.  However, if you use plain yogurt, or just milk, you may want to add between 1/8 - 1/4 cup of sugar.  It's completely up to taste preference.

These pancakes were fantastic and they will definitely get made again...soon.

Happy New Year everyone!

Sheri