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Was your Valentine’s Day filled with Hearts and Flours?
Yep, you read that right – flours. You see, today is Improv Challenge Day, and our theme for February is Hearts and Flours. Isn’t Kristen all cute with her play on words there? So I thought I would whip up a batch of Grain Free Chobani Pear & Banana Baked Pancakes. The flour – almond flour. The hearts – well, I think you can see those quite plainly.
Gonna be honest with you, Valentine’s Day wasn’t all that special around these parts. The Hubby and I haven’t really made a big deal out of it in years, and prefer to reserve the bigger celebration for our anniversary – you know OUR special day, and a day not near any major holidays so restaurants aren’t overcrowded, understaffed, overpriced, and underwhelming. I also haven’t really been much into venturing into stores other than the necessary grocery shopping, and The Bug wasn’t feeling too crafty, so cards and gifts weren’t happening. The gestational diabetes has not really put me in the mood to make special treats (though I have spent the past few weeks drooling over those of my fellow bloggers – HELLO!), and I had recently made us a nice, fancy meal that I just didn’t have the energy to replicate or try to live up to. Luckily The Hubby was very understanding.
I did have to grocery shop that morning, so I managed to pick up some things and throw together what turned out to be a pretty special and delicious dinner (I wish I had written what I did to marinate the London broil because it was incredible, but I will share with you the cauliflower side dish very soon). With one card from us, and Valentines from classmates and grandparents, we did get to sit and enjoy watching The Bug open his cards and a few small trinkets, and then devour part of a chocolate heart. And The Bug (aka The Hubby) got me a gift certificate for a pedicure. Which, really, I would be going for anyway even without a gift certificate, since I can’t reach my toes, and have a thing about people (yes, even doctors and nurses who couldn’t care less and are looking at a whole lot more important and less pretty parts of me than my toes) seeing my feet looking gnarly, but, you know, it’s the thought….
I actually made these Grain Free Chobani Pear & Banana Baked Pancakes over the weekend after Valentine’s Day, when I was feeling a bit more energetic and inspired. I am lying. I actually was quite zombie-esque. I had insomnia, and had been up since 3:30 am, so figured I’d make my boys something nice for breakfast. I had seen a similar recipe from Ann at The Fountain Avenue Kitchen, but she used plain yogurt, and I wanted to play around a little more with my samples of the new Chobani Pear and Banana flavors.
Melting the butter or coconut oil in the pan before adding the batter gives these pancakes the nice browned bottom (which you can see on the hearts that I flipped over) and slightly crispy edges (like you see on the wedges). The Hubby thought they had a texture similar to, but lighter than a cornbread. The flavor was light, with random bursts of fruit bits from the yogurt, and they weren’t too sweet, so you can adjust that to your own liking with powdered sugar or maple syrup. I’d love to try them with some other Chobani flavors, and even some mix-ins – nuts or chips would be sooo good.
The best thing is that you can mix them up in minutes, toss them into the oven, and simply slice them into wedges…
Or break out the cookie cutters to make them even more special…
Then feed the cut off little pieces and edges to your toddler, who doesn’t know the difference, since you cut his food into pieces anyway (no, I didn’t do that!). The leftovers reheat nicely, and check out next week’s What’s in the Lunchbox Wednesday and you’ll see what I did with some of them.
As I mentioned, this recipe is part of the Improv Challenge, which is a blog hop hosted by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. A theme is given, which is two assigned ingredients. Then it is up to the participating bloggers to let the creative juices flow, and see what they can come up with. Then on the third Thursday of the month, we will all publish our new recipes based on the theme. This month’s theme –hearts & flours. If you are have a blog and would like to join us, click on the picture to the below to learn more. If you are new to my blog, finding me because you have been following the Improv Challenge, then WELCOME!
Annnd, big surprise… Pancakes?! Yep, totally Bug-approved!
Check out the links at the bottom of this post to more great Hearts & Flours Recipes! I can’t wait to see what everyone has come up with!
How was your Valentine’s Day? Was it full of hearts and flours, or, err, umm, flowers? Or was it just a regular day?
Grain-Free Chobani Pear & Banana Baked Pancakes
Ingredients
For the Banana Pancakes:
- 6 ounce container Chobani 2% Banana Greek yogurt
- 3 eggs
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter I used coconut oil
For the Pear Pancakes:
- 6 ounce container Chobani 0% Pear Greek yogurt
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter I used butter
Instructions
For the Banana OR Pear Pancakes:
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Combine all of the ingredients except the almond flour and butter or coconut oil in a medium bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the almond flour.
- Place the coconut oil or butter in a 9 in. round cake pan and place in the oven for a minute or two, or until melted.
- Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until set, and the edges are browned.
Notes
Categories:
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The author received samples of Cobani 2% Banana and 0% Pear Greek Yogurt for recipe development and review purposes. All opinions are my own.
This recipe was shared with: #glutenfreefridays #28, I’m Lovin’ It, Weekend Potluck #55, nifty thrifty sunday #97}, Thursday’s Treasures
Sounds GREAT to me! I have this pinned and tweeted! Thanks for linking up at Gluten Free Fridays!
Thanks for hosting! They were very yummy!
I just discovered the banana and pear Chobani–love them! Your pancakes look awesome…yogurt, much like chocolate, makes everything better. 🙂
And actually, some chocolate IN the banana yogurt pancakes wouldn’t be a bad thing either 😉
Wowza. The use of Chobani for the flavoring is suddenly giving me ideas about what to do with some of the odder flavors, like Blood Orange. Not that banana and pear don’t sound wonderful, as they do! But inspiration and BAKED pancakes are always welcome.
The blood orange could be really interesting, maybe with some dark chocolate chunks!
Great idea! These pancakes sound fantastic. I’ve been meaning to try the Chobani Pear but haven’t yet. Now I’ll get some to try and some to try making these pancakes with. Yum!
The pear is good! I like it sprinkled with a little cinnamon.
Love your heart-shaped pear and banana baked pancakes! They’re the perfect for a quick breakfast. What a great idea for the Improv Challenge! Hope you have time to stop by and check out my heart-shaped gingerbread cookies.
Thanks! Yes, they mix up quickly for a special breakfast, or you can make them ahead and reheat on a busy weekday.
mmmmmmmmm! I’m going to have to try your recipe with the yogurt. I mixed up an oven pancake last week with GF flours & they all sank to the bottom & left the eggy part on top — not the most appetizing breakfast dish! Thanks for the recipe!
Yeah, I am learning and experimenting with gluten free flours. This was so simple and worked well.
What a fun way to start the day (or end it for that matter, I will eat pancakes any time of day!). Those pancakes sound luscious!
I love breakfast for dinner!! 🙂
I agree that anniversaries should be the bigger day 🙂 These pancakes look SO good and super cute!
Thanks! Yes, better to celebrate times that are special to YOU and not Hallmark!
My husband and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day either. We got engaged on February 11, so we celebrate “Engagement Day” instead. It means so much more to us that way. I do give my daughters little gifts and make heart-shaped meatloaves and pink mashed potatoes for dinner on Valentine’s Day, though.
Your pancakes are so cute and sound delicious. I have never made baked pancakes before. I definitely need to try them though as I am horrible at making regular pancakes!
Aww, Engagement Day is so cute! I am sure as my son gets older, we’ll do more cute, heart-y things.
Wow, these are adorable! What a great idea for a special breakfast. Love this.
Thanks! They were fun to make and eat!
Your recipe sounds so good. I have not had the Chobani pear or banana, but they are both going on my grocery list. The pancakes sound like they have a great texture, and I like how easy they sound! Great recipe!!
Thank you! Yes, definitely super easy. And the new Chobani flavors are awesome!
Looks delicious!
Thanks!
What a delicious idea for breakfast! Looks like you have a big fan 🙂
Thanks! Yes, pancakes are a special treat for him, so he gets very excited!