I’ve never been a huge pancake person – the fluffy, cakey, bready texture just never quite did it for me. The only pancakes I enjoyed eating (and actually loved) were my dad’s pancakes, which were more like really thin crepes than they were actual pancakes.

When I was little my dad was pretty much famous among my friends and family for his pancakes. In our house we called them “Daddy Cakes” (which sounds a little odd when I think about it now, but, hey… we still call them that!) and they were definitely not limited to breakfast. They served as the perfect breakfast-for-dinner treat more times than I can count.

In fact, when I was going through a really rough breakup with my college boyfriend a little over a year ago, I came home for the weekend right after the breakup and the first thing my dad did was make me pancakes. It was more or less the first thing I had eaten in several days, and I immediately felt a little bit better.

The super awesome thing about my dad’s pancakes is that since they are so thin, you can basically eat a ton of them before getting too full. Kayla, my best friend growing up, was the tiniest twig of a girl and she could inhale more than a dozen of my dad’s pancakes in one sitting. My mom, who I always make fun of for eating really small amounts and never being hungry (unless we’re at Chipotle) eats triple the amount I do when we’re eating my dad’s pancakes.

So, needless to say, after going vegan it has certainly been a bummer that I can’t have my beloved “Daddy Cakes” when I’m home. But until today I hadn’t been brave enough to try any of the awesome vegan pancake recipes I’ve been flying around some of my favorite food blogs. Heck… I didn’t even make my own pancakes before I went vegan!

I have been on a pretty huge buckwheat kick lately, so I knew I wanted to make buckwheat pancakes when I finally took the plunge. I woke up early this morning and it seemed like the perfect morning to experiment (and to procrastinate from some work I’ve been neglecting… shhh…)

And voila! It was actually shocking to me how much these looked, tasted, and felt like real pancakes. Well, I guess they are real pancakes. But you know what I mean

I knew from the moment I tasted the batter these were going to be good. And they totally were – especially after I added some nut butter, raw honey, fruit and pecans. YUM! Thanks, Jay, for sending me this ridiculously delicious jar of You Fresh Naturals White Chocolate Cake Batter nut butter. This stuff is like crack.

GIVEAWAY!!!

And, because I love y’all so much, I am doing a giveaway of this crack-nut-butter amazingness. And no, this is not a sponsored post. I actually just love this brand that much. To enter the giveaway, answer the questions at the bottom of this post in a comment.

Healthy Vegan Buckwheat Pancakes:

Ingredients:

Yields 4-6 pancakes

 1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/4 cup quinoa flour (or any other gluten-free flour)

1 tbs ground flax

1 tbs baking powder

1 packet stevia (or any other minimally processed sweetener)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup almond milk

Directions:

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the almond milk and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly until a thick batter forms.

3. Add fruit or nuts if you’d like. I waited until after they were cooked to add mine.

4. Using ladle or a measuring cup, drop pancake batter onto a skillet at medium-high heat. I greased mine with a bit of coconut oil. You should use about ¼ cup of batter per pancake.

5. Flip pancake when the bottom is golden brown and firm. Cook thoroughly until golden on both sides. For me this only took about 1-2 minutes per side, but you want to make sure it is thoroughly cooked so it tastes its best.

Tips:

– The thinner you make these, the harder/crunchier they will get, and the thicker, the fluffier. Depending on how you like your pancakes, adjust accordingly.

– The batter lasts well in the fridge for a few days, so if you want to prepare a big batch of batter and use throughout the week, you can certainly do that.

– Eat these pancakes warm. I made the mistake of waiting until they were room temp (darn photo shoot) and they were not nearly as yummy as the first super-warm one that I scarfed down.

Nutrition Information: 

Questions for “White Chocolate Cake Batter” Nut Butter Giveaway:

– What was YOUR favorite breakfast growing up? Did you have any funny nicknames for it in your household like we did with our “Daddy Cakes”?

– If you could top your pancakes with anything in the world, and it was guaranteed to be healthy and totally calorie-free, what would you choose?