Gluten Free Coconut Pancakes |Cooking With Amanda

I realize I was one lucky young girl growing up with my folks in Sri Lanka! Thanks to my parents, my young insides were not introduced to a burger or fries - even on busy nights! They made sure we kids had our veggies. And, they made sure we had our breakfasts! And, I am not talking about cereal for breakfast either. My mom would often make kiribath or mung bean and coconut "mash", or string hoppers. But, my all time favorite were her coconut pancakes with a coconut and jaggery filling.

If you are wondering what the heck jaggery is - it is an unrefined and non-distilled sugar that is made from the sap of sucrose rich plants such as sugar cane or date palm trees. While it is available in select stores here in the U.S., it was (and is) quite popular in Sri Lanka.

My mom would make delicate, turmeric spiced pancakes without any baking powder and she would stuff them with this almost un-earthly, soft and scrumptious, coconut, jaggery, cardamom and vanilla filling. My dad and I shared a wicked sweet tooth so we would compete to see who would end up with the last decadent pancake, but, my mom would always act as referee and get us to both slow down - with the race ending when my sister would appear from nowhere and grab that last pancake!

Today, I have my version of my mom's baking powder free coconut pancakes - but mine comes with a roasted coconut and jaggery topping and coconut whipped cream. While my mom's pancakes were thinner (like a crepe) - mine are a tad bit thicker - like a thicker crepe. Like hers, mine are also flavored with turmeric, but I also added a bit of almond and vanilla extract to mine.

While my mom's traditional coconut and jaggery mix was soft - I toasted mine - to make it crunchy and offset the whipped cream topping. My mom's stuffed pancakes were rolled and easy to engage in a pancake eating contest - my version isn't quite so easy to do so with. But, mine are perfect for lounging and eating on a weekend morning!

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Gluten Free Coconut Pancakes Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Pancakes:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup rice flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk, (of your choice)
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric

For the Coconut & Jaggery Filling:

1 1/2 cups coconut flakes
5 tablespoons powdered jaggery, or coconut palm sugar
5 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

For the Pancakes:

Add coconut flour, turmeric, salt and rice flour into a bowl and mix.
Then add in the eggs, milk, coconut oil, vanilla and almond extracts, and mix well till batter is smooth.
Pour 3-4 spoonfuls of batter onto a warm pan and let cook for 3 to 4 minutes on a low flame. When top surface of pancakes become cracked, flip them and cook on other side for 2-3 minutes

For the Filling:

As pancakes cool, add coconut oil to a pan with coconut flakes and sauté.
Add in the jiggery and almond extract, cinnamon and lemon juice and sauté till jiggery melts and coats coconut.

For Assembly:

Place a pancake on a plate, top with coconut whipped topping or whipped topping of your choice, sprinkle coconut jiggery filling and repeat.
Stack layers as high as you want and dig in!