TwoFaced Tuesday: Ginger

"TwoFaced Tuesdays" is a joint venture between CupcakesOMG! and Jenna from The Paleo Project. Each week, we select one secret ingredient and put our own "paleo"/primal spin on it. You can catch up on the entire series here. Also, if you have any special ingredient requests, you can always tweet us (@CupcakesOhMG and @ThePaleoProject) using the hashtag #TwoFacedTuesday.

You wouldn't know it by my usual breakfast of sausage and eggs, but my favorite breakfast items are sweet things: french toast, doughnuts, pain au chocolats, etc. But it's pancakes that really get me. My mom used to make them with blueberries when I was growing up. And not those shit ones that come from a box, but the real kind from scratch, with flour and baking soda. Until recently, the perfect "primal" (I dunno if I like this word any better than this one, but I'm trying here...) pancake eluded me. I really love this version that my mom whipped up, but after they cool, they deflate a bit, kinda like a souffle. They're absolutely delicious, and I encourage you to try them if you haven't, but this weekend I wanted something more substantial. And I wanted it to taste like fall, because following a pretty wicked tornado on Saturday, we had an amazing cool front blow through. Clearly, I needed gingerbread pancakes.

{Surprisingly, not that much ginger goes into gingerbread cupcakes...who knew?}

{Here's what the finished batter should look like--I think that's an important picture
that's often left out. So if it doesn't look like this, you're doing it wrong.}

These pancakes are crazyyyyyy!! They're a little time consuming to make, but what do you expect for something that tastes like fall in your mouth???

I'll be honest--I don't normally put one huge pat of butter on top of a stack of pancakes like this. I normally put a huge pat of butter on top of each pancake so that there's a whole pancake-butter pat-pancake-butter pat situation going on. I just did this for pictures.

I do, however, always douse them in maple syrup...

...lots and lots of liquid amber goodness.

So, are you gonna make these or what??

Yeah, you're gonna make these.

You're also totally gonna make Jenna's Ginger recipe too!!

Primal Gingerbread Pancakes
Makes about 8 medium pancakes or 12 silver dollars

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour, finely ground 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 3 eggs, yolks removed from egg whites
• 1-2 Tbsp. raw honey (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. molasses
• 1/3 cup almond milk (or non dairy milk of your choice)
• coconut oil for cooking

1. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients with a whisk to gently sift and combine.

2. In a small bowl, combine eggs, honey, molasses, and milk.

3. In another medium bowl, whisk egg whites until medium peaks form (about 3-4 minutes with an electric hand mixer).

4. Add egg yolk and molasses mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well until incorporated.

5. Gently fold egg whites into batter, spooning about 1/2 cup in at a time, until all egg whites have been incorporated.

6. Heat a non-stick pan with about a Tbsp. of coconut oil over medium heat. Spoon a couple tablespoons of batter into the pan--about however much you need to make them the size you want, keeping in mind, the smaller the pancake, the easier it will be to flip. 

7. Cook until the first side is set, but not burnt. About 2-3 minutes, depending on your burner. Then, using a thin, flat metal spatula, flip pancake and cook other side another 2 minutes or so. You may have to continue flipping until it's cooked all the way through. Ya know, like a regular pancake.

8. Serve warm with grass-fed butter and real maple syrup.