Fluffy Blueberry Orange Chickpea Flour Pancakes for One

These pancakes use chickpea flour which, when balanced with orange juice and maple syrup, create a perfectly sweet, fluffy little pancake packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients.

Chickpea flour (also called garbanzo or besan flour) can be bought on Amazon, found in most Indian grocery stores, or made from scratch if you happen to have a high-speed blender and dried chickpeas on hand (thats how we make ours. It takes one minute and keeps the price down).

It’s great stuff. For every half cup of chickpea flour, you get 15 grams of protein. Compare that to the 10.2 grams you’d be getting from whole wheat flour or the 7.75 grams you would be getting from white flour. Definitely a winner. And then there’s the fiber! Chickpea flour boasts 12.75 grams relative to the 9.15 grams in whole wheat flour or the 2 grams in all purpose flour.

Fluffy Blueberry Orange Pancakes

Makes 8 small pancakes @ 46 calories each (without blueberry compote)

I usually like these pancakes just like this recipe is written: lightly sweet and ultra fluffy. However, if you’d like them to be perfectly decadent (say, as a mothers day treat!), reduce the orange juice to 3 Tablespoons; increase the maple syrup to 2 Tablespoons, and add 1 teaspoon neutral oil.

Ingredients

for the pancakes…

• 1/2 cup (75 grams) chickpea flour (no substitutions)
• 2 teaspoons (6 grams) baking powder
• 1/4 cup (59 ml) orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon (14.8 ml) maple syrup
• zest of 1/2 orange

for the blueberry compote…

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• zest of 1/2 orange
• optional: maple syrup or stevia to taste

Preparation

1. First, make the blueberry compote by warming blueberries and sweetener of choice together in the microwave or on the stovetop until heated through. Then set it aside while you prepare the pancakes.
   
2. Mix chickpea flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
   
3. Add water and syrup. Mix well to combine.
   
4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until it is hot enough to sizzle when water hits it but not so hot that it smokes.
   
5. Use a Tablespoon to measure out 2 Tablespoons of dough for each pancake. Cook for approximately 3 min on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side. But monitor the pancakes closely during the cooking process as they tend to burn easily. Also keep in mind that, as the skillet grows hotter, subsequent batches will burn more easily, and you may need to lift the skillet off the heat for a minute every now and then to let it cool a bit. If the skillet ever smokes, it’s too hot.

The whole batch will give you:
367 calories, 15 grams of protein, and 12 grams of fiber!