March 2020 – Life in the UP

When I was a little girl my mom would make special pancakes for me. It was not until I grew up that I found out she used buckwheat flour in those pancakes. It has been several years since I have had those buckwheat pancakes, and in that time, I have changed the way I eat food. Over three years ago I gave up sugar and traditional white flours and white rice. I started following the Trim Healthy Mama plan. If you do a search on the internet, you will find all kinds of information on the plan. There are so many people who can explain it better than I ever could, so I will just let you know that is the plan I follow.

I had not thought about those special pancakes for years. It wasn’t until I found that I had a few bags of buckwheat groats in my cupboard that either needed to be used up, or tossed out. That was when I thought of buckwheat pancakes. I have no idea how my mom made her special buckwheat pancakes, but since buckwheat grains are on the carb side of the Trim Healthy Mama plan, I wanted to limit the fat in these pancakes, so I used only egg whites, and almond milk. I didn’t add any fat to the recipe, as I would be using a fat in the pan to keep the pancake from sticking to the surface, but I believe I could have used a teaspoon and still kept it on plan.

I have found that low fat pancakes like these buckwheat pancakes tend to stick to the frying pan more than normal, so it takes a bit more work to flip the pancake and keep it in one piece.

Here is a video I did on my first try with this recipe. I added cocoa to the pancakes in the video, but since then I have made the recipe without the cocoa. That is the recipe you will find below the video. If you try my recipe, let me know.

Sugar Free Buckwheat Pancakes (THM E)

1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat groats into flour, and soaked the flour in the almond milk.)
2 tiny 1/32 teaspoons Stevia or Sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg white
pinch of salt

Mix together until smooth, but not over mixed. Fry in prepared frying pan, flipping so as to not burn them. As for how many pancakes this recipe will make, well that depends on the size of the pancake.

A friend brought me some Dutch cookie molds, so I decided to make some traditional speculaas cookies.

It was a lot of work. I can see why people buy speculaas cookies rather than make them from scratch. Even so, they were very good. I made both regular speculaas cookies and a low carb, sugar free version.

You can watch my video here…

Speculaas Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup cold butter
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used only 1/2 tsp)
1 3/4 flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (I omitted this)

Blend together butter and sugars. Add egg, and beat well. Add vanilla. Stir in flour and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. If you refrigerate longer, you may need to let the dough sit out for a bit before forming cookies.
To form cookies, take a small bit of the dough and press into prepared wooden cookie mold.
To prepare the mold, you will want to spread oil over the cutout section of the mold. You may want to brush it with oil several times before the first use, this prepares the mold to make release of the cookie dough easier.
Once the dough has been formed in the mold, slowly remove the dough from the mold. This may take some time to figure out. Don’t worry if the dough falls apart as you remove it from the mold, as you can just press the dough again. We did find this step to be time consuming.
Gently place cookie on a baking sheet. I used parchment paper on my pan, but it is not necessary. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until done. Times will vary, so keep a close eye on your cookies.

Low Carb Sugar Free Speculaas Cookies Recipe

3/4 cup butter
3 Tablespoons sweetener, I use Pyure
1 1/4 cup my baking blend
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Alternate ingredients:
If you have a mix for speculaas spices, then use 1 1/2 tablespoons instead of the mixed spices.
If you do not have my baking blend, use:
1/8 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup Oat fiber
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 Tablespoon Pyure or sweetener of your choice.
1 egg

Mix together. You can either use the dough in cookie molds, or roll out and cut with cookie cutters, or even shape into cookies and bake in 350 degree F over until done.