Gluten Free, Vegan Pancakes!

Do you know what day it is? I'll give you a clue,  it's a whole day of eating fried batter! Yes, it's the most glorious of all days, Pancake Day!

So, I've managed to take my mum's pancake recipes from growing up and pretty much straight out swap the ingredients for vegan, gluten free ones, meaning these pancakes are super easy and turn out pretty much exactly how I remember them being. It might seem a little ironic making vegan pancakes, when traditionally it was a day to use up all of the milk and eggs before giving up animal products for Lent, but seeing as I've already given up those evil animal products, I'm just ahead of the game and deserve pancakes as much as anyone. Plus, these bad boys have flax in which is both good for digestion and full of omega 3's, so they're practically healthy, right? Right?! Ah, who cares - it's Pancake Day!

I had tropical fruit and golden syrup on my breakfast pancakes, lamd (vegan, gluten free "lamb" what I've been working on), spring onion, cabbage, coconut sour cream andchilli sauce pancakes for lunch, (a bit like a kebab and my favourite so far), and I'll be having creamy mushroom and leek pancakes for dinner, followed by fruit, nut butter, chocolate, syrup and the classic lemon and sugar combo for dessert pancakery. Not a stick, twig or bit of dirt insight, unlike the poor villagers of Worksop, (see video above).

So want to hear my super simple, tasty recipe? OK then!

PANCAKES!

makes about 8

1 cup gluten free flour (I used this one)
1 1/2 cup hemp milk, (other milks may also work, but this is my favourite)
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax or linseeds, 6 tbsp water, let sit for 10 minutes)
a tiny splash of oil for frying

1. Heat a pancake pan on your hob to a moderate temperature. Pour in a little oil.
2. Sieve your flour, stir in the flax egg and then the milk and whisk until combined and smooth-ish. I tend to use a spatular first and then a whisk, otherwise it tends to be too clumpy.
3. Pour any excess oil out of your pan, or carefully wipe it out with kitchen roll if you're an expert at not burning yourself.
4. Depending on the size of your pan - I find about 1/3 of a cup scoop works best - pour batter into the hot pan, and move the pan around to coat in a thin layer.
5. Leave it alone for 5 minutes or until the ends start to lift and the whole pancake moves in one piece with a little shake of the pan.
6. Once your whole pancake is browned underneath, staying together and moving freely in the pan with a little shake it is ready to flip. So, flip it! Come on, don't be scared, you can do it. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but even I can flip a pancake!
7. Once flipped, brown the second side for a few minutes, the finished pancake should just slide out of your pan and onto a plate, where you can literally top it with anything you want. 
8. Gorge yourself on an array of fried batter topped with ludicrous creations.
9. Consider this the best day of the year, and long for it forever more.
10. Ah....pancakes!