Time to get EXCITED!!
Apparently September is Better Breakfast Month — aimed at helping people make smarter choices for breakfast foods. When California Almond contacted me about helping promote Better Breakfast Month, and their Better Breakfast Challenge (more on that in a minute!), I was REALLY excited — I already love almonds, and Derek and I eat a LOT of almond butter around here. I really didn’t need convincing!
In coming up with a recipe for Better Breakfast Month, I wanted to try something very almond-centric, but also keep it healthy. It’d be really easy to load up the sugar and make some outrageous frosted almond streusel muffin (that sounds delicious, right?), but for me that defeats the purpose of a BETTER breakfast. So I set out to make something without loads of sugar! Did you know that eating almonds at breakfast fills you up for longer? No more 10 am second-breakfast needed!
Photos supplied by California Almonds
Almond meal is something I’ve just started playing around with (remember the lemon almond ricotta cake?) — I figured it’d be a great way to make a filling pancake! I used the whole almonds California Almonds sent me, by throwing them into a food processor for a minute or two you end up with almond meal! Don’t go TOO far, though, or you’ll end up with almond butter — which is also a fun project!
I played a bit with texture — first omitting milk, then adding it in, and using varying amounts of everything. Without milk, the recipe is gluten AND dairy free; however, the pancakes were a bit too dense and dry for me. Add in some milk, and they become a nice fluffy, FILLING, almond cake! Perfect! I discovered that cooking them at a lower temperature was key — they brown very quickly.
Now for the exciting stuff!
How would you like to win a YEAR supply of almonds? Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome! Come up with your own Better Breakfast Month recipe, featuring almonds, and submit a photo of it to the Better Breakfast Challenge this month. Winners are announced daily, and you could be one of them!
Now for even MORE exciting stuff!
I was fortunate enough to receive a Better Breakfast Starter kit, with whole almond, slivered almonds, almond butter, a travel pouch, and a $20 gift card to get other breakfast ingredients — now I want to give one to YOU! One lucky reader will get all of this!
Photo supplied by California Almonds
The giveaway runs from midnight tonight through next Friday, September 27, ending at midnight. The winner will be contacted shortly thereafter and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen!
- 1½ cups whole almonds
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 banana
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp honey
- ¼ cup milk
- butter or oil for cooking
- In a food processor, blend the almonds until they are a fine meal. Measure out 1½ cups of meal, combine in a bowl with the cinnamon and salt.
- In a separate bowl, mash the banana, then mix in the eggs, honey, and milk.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients.
- Heat a skillet over medium-low heat, and melt your butter or cooking oil in it. Add a dollop of batter, and cook until the edges are dry. Flip, and cook until both sides are browned.
- Serve with syrup, almond butter, yogurt, or whatever toppings you want!
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Absolutely love a French croissant with a cup of tea for breakfast.
I love crispy hashbrowns, sausage, and pancakes, but I usually eat cereal, yogurt and a banana.
Pancakes and turkey sausage link or bacon
not a breakfast lover in the least – so no favorites.
my husband’s scrambled eggs
this looks delicious! i love all kinds of breakfast foods (at all times of the day) and i’m excited to add this recipe to the list!
My favorite breakfast anytime is a simple piece of toast with nut butter with tea. Simple and healthy.
oatmeal
My favorite thing to eat for breakfast is a hard boiled egg in the car on the way to work, and then oatmeal or yogurt with fruit! I include nut butters daily with an apple in the afternoon to keep me full until dinner time 🙂
Any ideas on how to make these pumpkin spice almond meal pancakes?
Ha! Yes. Honestly I think you could just up the amount of almond flour by like .. 1/3 cup, add 2/3 cup pumpkin puree + 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. DELISH. Let me know if you try that!
Favorite breakfast would be french press coffee, a fresh chocolate crossiant and scrambled eggs with chives. Now my waist line thinks otherwise so I usually eat hot breakfast cereal with dried fruits and chopped nuts 🙂
My absolute favorite is crepes with creme filling and fresh berries!
Hey Mary – So I had a pistachio muffin for breakfast this morning, and it kept me full for quite a long time, longer than expected. It made me think about this post of yours and putting nuts (as a flour or puree) in breakfast stuffs. I’m not really a recipe experimenter (that’s your job!) but what do you think of almond, or any other type of nut, based muffins? I like quick breakfasts I can eat at work, so a muffin would be perfect.
Oh that would be awesome! I recently made some muffins with walnut butter (for an upcoming project, tba soon!) – totally filling and delicious! I’ve actually been getting really into almond flour lately, it’s pretty easy to work with, and I LOVE the taste!
pancakes
I love coffee cake with bacon and fried eggs!
pancakes or waffles!
scrambled eggs with a side of fresh fruit
My favorite breakfast is French Toast.
oatmeal with berries, bananas, protein powder, and topped with almond milk
Love eggs and toast!
I love scones and waffles. Carb girl, I am. 🙂
I’m not entering because I won this box on another site. I fact it just arrived today! I am pinning your recipe and making it though!
This turned into more of a flat muffin than a pancake. Didn’t flip well. Need to add more binding.
Agreed – I experimented a bit and just let the pancakes cook a bit more before trying to flip them than I normally would. And I used two spatulas to hold the middle together.