This year is flying by! My favorite time of year is autumn, so I’m definitely happy to have it just around the corner. This weekend we bought our first wireless router! Hehe…I am way behind the technological times, so I’ve been blogging at a stationary spot in our bedroom for the last few months.
It was most difficult to have the kids in the living room playing or watching TV because I’d keep having to go back and forth checking on them. Now, I can just casually look over my computer screen! It took us forever to figure out how to set it up though, because neither my husband nor myself know much about computers. :-/
I’ve got a tasty recipe today! I’ve been playing around a lot with various grains…amaranth, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, etc. I’m really interested in chestnut flour, but I can’t find it anywhere! I may just have to order it because I think it’d make great gluten-free desserts.
I’ve had some spelt berries in my pantry just waiting to be used, so I decided to try my hand at a breakfast recipe.
Enter…..crepe-cakes!
Not really a crepe, but not really a pancake…deemed crepe-cakes!
This, like my oatmeal cookie waffles, is another blender breakfast! The only added step is allowing the spelt berries to soak in water overnight.
The accompanying raspberry vanilla syrup is slightly sweetened with maple syrup, but still retains the palatable tartness of a raspberry.
SPELT BERRY CREPE-CAKES WITH RASPBERRY SYRUP
1/2 c. spelt berries
1 c. almond milk
3 eggs
1 T. honey (or any liquid sweetener, though see my discussion at the end regarding agave)
2 T. melted coconut oil
1/4 t. + 1/8 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
6 T. spelt flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 T. chia seeds
Soak the spelt berries in water overnight, covered in the refrigerator. Drain and rinse berries. Add berries and milk to a blender and blend for about 3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and allow everything to blend for another minute. Let batter sit for about 5 minutes while you heat and butter or oil a pan. Ladle a 2-4 of tablespoons of batter at a time, depending on how big you want the cakes. Cook about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip, and cook for another minute or so until done.
RASPBERRY VANILLA SYRUP
12 oz. (a bit less than 2 cups) frozen organic raspberries, defrosted
1 t. lemon juice
3 T. maple syrup
pinch salt
7 drops of liquid stevia
1 t. vanilla
1 t. arrowroot
Over medium heat, add defrosted berries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and salt into a pan. Begin heating the mixture. Remove about 1/4 cup of the mix and place into a bowl with the arrowroot. Simmer the remaining syrup for 5 minutes. Add back arrowroot/berry mix and stevia, bring to a boil, and decrease heat to allow the syrup to again simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour all into a bowl and set in the refrigerator to cool.
Pour the cooled syrup atop a stack of soft, warm crepe-cakes and dig in!
These really hit the spot on a lazy Sunday morning when you have a little more time to spare for the making of the syrup. You can also make it ahead of time, as it keeps very well in the fridge.
Have you ever used spelt berries?
EMC
This one has been calling my name since I found your website a week or two ago… I went to pick up spelt berries from my WFs, but they didn’t have them. They DID, however, have kamut berries. I love kamut flour, so I figured what the heck? Soaked ’em just like your recipe, swapped the eggs for 1/2 cup chickpea flour + 1/2 cup water, swapped the spelt flour for brown rice, and pan fried them up in coconut oil. (Oh, and I forgot to read the directions and just blended all of it together at once.) I know, I know, all those changes, but it still worked. 🙂
Verdict? Divine. This may be my new gluten-containing pancake recipe. The flavor of the pancakes by themselves was delicious and they’re very light, although filling. I’m looking forward to freezing the extras and whipping them out for a mid-week pick-me-up breakfast.
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Lauren
I’m so happy you enjoyed them! Thanks for letting me know your substitutions too. 😀
Michelle
The recipe sounds delicious! As for agave, my husband has diabetes, and we don’t use it. The articles we have read are very conflicting, but there is just too much evidence out there that says it is far worse than sugar to risk it, but everyone has to make their own decisions. I don’t think we will know the affects of many things we eat until it is too late. I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone for using it because I think things affect everyone differently anyway. Thanks for linking up with Foodie Friends Friday!
Lauren
I agree with you completely. I can’t take it, but I know a lot of people really like the taste and the fact that it’s low glycemic. Thanks for visiting me Michelle!
Walking On Sunshine
I love crepes and I love pancakes! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday. Please come back again next week with another great recipe!
Lauren
Thank you so much, I’d love to!
MissEricka
These look amazing, and the photos are beautiful! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
Lauren
Thanks Ericka! If you hadn’t found me through AZ Bloggers, I never would have known about FFF!
freshlifefindings
Yum! These look amazing!! That raspberry vanilla syrup is calling my name. And I haven’t decided what I think about agave either! I love to drizzle it occasionally on top of yogurt or peanut butter but I don’t use it very often. I think in general moderation of all sweeteners is best but I like honey, brown rice syrup and maple syrup best 🙂
Ellie
ahhh autumn is my fave too! I’m quite excited for it, actually 😀 And omgness this looks soooooooo delicious and healthy~I really am at the verge of drooling over here. My eyes went 0_0 lol And I use agave seldom, but whenever I do I seem to enjoy it! I just don’t buy it often b/c it get be kind of pricey in my opinion.
Anna @ The Guiltless Life
These look sooo amazing!
I’ve definitely read the controversy about agave. Here’s my two cents: I am very sensitive to sugar and feel yuck after eating white or brown sugar, or corn syrup. However, agave doesn’t make me feel bad at all, and neither does coconut sugar, maple sugar, stevia, brown rice syrup, molasses, honey, xylitol etc. Maple syrup doesn’t either but if I have a lot of it I can get a bit of after-effects.
Scientifically that probably doesn’t make much sense as maple syrup is known to be a great whole natural sweetener while agave has all that controversy, so I know I don’t fit into scientific research. For that reason, I can only go on what works for me. Because of the controversy though I will say I have backed off using agave as much as I used to. It isn’t my go-to sweetener anymore (that’s stevia, though if I have company who don’t like stevia it will be something like coconut sugar or brown rice syrup depending on what kind of dish I’m making).
It’s best to listen to your body – as I think you mentioned you don’t do well with agave – and take research into consideration but not live your life by it because I feel like there’s ‘research’ that says everything is good and bad to a certain degree! Does that make sense? Sorry for waffling on haha. I’ve been thinking about the agave issue for some time but never got around to blogging about it so I guess that’s what I’m doing in your comment field ;).
Lauren
Haha! You definitely have waffles on the brain. I actually get effects from too much maple syrup, that’s why I try to temper it with other fruits or nut butters. Brown rice syrup, I’ve heard, has arsenic…? So I’ve taken to getting barley malt lately, but if you’re gluten-sensitive, that is probably not a viable option either. Geez, ya can’t eat anything anymore.
Lou Dwan
Thanks for the link, Lauren! I too like saying the ‘everything in moderation, even moderation’ line – usually when it comes to wine 😉
I don’t mind agave – I haven’t felt any adverse health-effects, but I enjoy the flavour of say maple syrup so much more. Brown rice syrup is also a favourite of mine (and generally cheaper than agave!)
You recipe looks delicious – I’ve never tried spelt berries, they sound like an interesting ingredient for sure 🙂