Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes - 360 Family Nutrition

A Gluten Free Pancake Option. These Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes are loaded with a sweet chocolate flavor and will keep you satiated for hours.

Oat flour has been my “go-to” healthier recipe substitution lately. I have used oat flour in baked goods to replace enriched white flour and in many recent baby food recipes. Today I am using oat flour for my Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

The substitution of oat flour for enriched white flour can add many nutritional benefits to your baked good. If you suffer from a gluten intolerance, oat flour (if made from pure oats) can serves as a gluten free flour option. Oat flour offers a substantial amount of fiber – which may provide greater satiety and heart health benefits. It should be noted that oat flour is NOT necessarily lower in calories than other flours, but does offer a more nutritionally dense option.

Pre-made oat flour is becoming more widely abundant is grocery stores, however I stuck to making my own. To make homemade oat flour simply add uncooked oats to your blender and pulse and or chop the oats until you get a white powder (this usually takes about 30-60 seconds). I like to make more flour than I need for a recipe and store the remainder in the refrigerator for later use.

Thus far I have been able to evenly trade out the same amount of oat flour for the originally instructed enriched white flour in recipes. The folks over at Livestrong posted an excellent article on how to switch from baking with wheat flour to oat flour. One notable consideration is the need for an increased amount of baking powder due to lack of gluten when using oat flour. They recommend 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 1 cup of oat flour used.

The fine consistency of oat flour offers a mild, undistinguishable flavor. Some people comment that oat flour has a slight extra hint of sweetness – so perhaps you could cut back on your sweetener when using in baked goods. I had not originally planned on sharing this recipe on the blog, but was pleasantly surprised with the delicious flavor the pancakes had to offer. And thus quickly snapped a pic of my delicious creation!

I am fairly certainly these pancakes will make an appearance in this upcoming weekends brunch menu! Perhaps I will try them with fruit instead of chocolate chips this time! What is on your menu for the weekend?

Enjoy!

Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Pancakes

by Kristen Smith

Ingredients

1¾ cup ground oat flour
1 teaspoon sugar (or sweetener of choice)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup 1% milk (or milk of choice)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon canola oil
4-5 tsp unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
2-4 tbsp mini chocolate chips

Adapted from Food Prepper: http://www.foodprepper.com/oat-flour-pancakes-old-fashioned.php

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, applesauce, oil, and sugar

3. In another bowl combine the oat flour (note), baking powder, and salt

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together (you want it to remain with lumps); stir in chocolate chips

5. Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn heat to medium-high (or heat up griddle to 375 degrees Fahrenheit)

6. Once the pan is heated drop spoonful of batter onto pan using laddle or cookie scooper (I used 1/4 cup laddle); cook for a few minutes until you start to see little bubbles forming on the surface and outages (may need to reduce heat to medium/medium-high) and then flip pancakes with a spatula and cook for a few more minutes on other side.

Note: oat flour can be made by blending uncooked oats for about 30-60 seconds or until a flour consistency