Low-Carb Pancakes

When my husband was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, one of the foods I was saddest about him losing was pancakes. He loves eating them and I love making them. I was determined to find a way to keep pancakes on our menu of breakfast foods. But alas, a search through the grocery store shelves turned up nothing encouraging -- even the whole wheat flours were way too high in carbs to make pancake-making feasible; all the pre-made mixes (low sodium, gluten-free, etc.) were also far too high in carbohydrates. But I was still determined to find a way.

Searching online one night, I turned up a few products I'd never heard of before, one of which was almond flour.  Almond flour is simply raw almonds that have been blended into a fine grain. Almond flour can stand alone as a flour substitute or can be mixed with wheat flour. The best part: only 4 grams of carbs per serving (which is 1/4 cup). I eagerly ordered several packages (the downside is the individual bags are very small -- 10 oz. in the brand I bought, so I had to buy several). The upside is you can find fairly inexpensive Almond Flour online; many health food stores carry almond flour, as well. To the right is a photo of the one I ended up with.

Here is a recipe for making Almond Flour Pancakes. This recipe makes four large pancakes or 10-12 smaller ones. These really turn out well -- they hold together great and bubble on top when they're ready to be flipped, just like regular pancakes. There is definitely a bit of an "almond" flavor, but I quite like them. My husband is somewhat of a picky eater, and he's been eating them without complaint, so mission accomplished!

Almond Flour Pancakes 
   
2 Cups Almond Flour
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Water
4 Tbsp. Oil (I use olive oil)
1 tsp. Vanilla (a capful will do)
1/8 tsp. salt
2-3 Tbsp. of the sweetener of your choice (Splenda works fine; I use a product from the health food store called "Just Like Sugar." As you experiment with these pancakes, adjust the amount of sweetener for your own personal taste)

OPTIONAL: About 2 Tbsp. melted butter (liquid butter works fine)

Mix the dry ingredients first. Add the eggs, water and the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Fry like regular pancakes and enjoy!

There may not be a lot of low-carb pancake mixes out there, but there are lots and lots of sugar-free pancake syrups (go figure), so obviously a sugar-free syrup will also greatly reduce the carb count in this meal -- definitely don't let the diabetic in your home use the real stuff, or you've just wasted your time making him/her low-carb pancakes. There are other natural low-carb flours out there (coconut flour, pecan flour...), but almond is the only one I've tried so far. Several Web sites I've read say almond flour works the best as a substitute for the real thing. If you've had success with other low-carb flours, write in and let me know! I'll share your success with the rest of the "Diabetes Eaties" community.

Voila! The finished product. Can't tell the difference? Neither will your diabetic sweeties!

P.S. I also made a cake for our anniversary using the almond flour. Admittedly, not as good as the real thing (but what is when it comes to junk food?). However, I'm not done experimenting. I'll keep you posted!