Weekend eats: coffee pancakes

Before we get to pancakes, I need to share three things about myself, all pertaining to my first year out of college.

The first is bad.  It's actually bad bad.  

1.  Whenever I think about the last year of my life, I have a tendency to, openly and blatantly, hate on myself.  To some extent, we're all self-critical, overly so even.  But my inner dialogue reflecting on the last year of my life is not only far from forgiving, it's mean as hell! It's been a longtime goal for me to keep loving myself even during trying times, but this has been beyond difficult for me to achieve. These post-college years aren't breezy, and I'm only one out. I want to start giving myself the credit I deserve for making some excellent and substantial personal strides, meeting some incredible people, and embracing newness.

The second is much more playful.

2.  Although I mostly beat myself up over the past year of my life, there are some very notable silver linings.  One is that I became addicted to Doctor Who.  Proof?  November 23rd can't come soon enough! My recent google searches all begin with two words: "Peter Capaldi." The only French I speak is "allons-y!" I started dating my boo because I thought he looked like Ten (he doesn't, but I stuck around).  Speaking of Ten, he's my favorite.  Though, Moffet is my new idol.  When I'm babysitting and the kid wants to watch something spooky, I stream "Blink" on my Netflix.  If you're still not convinced, 1) you're loco en el coco and 2) this weekend, Allison and I blitzed the entire seventh season!

The third is relevant.

3.  Also in this first post-grad year, I became addicted to coffee.  I have some wonderful coworker/friend hybrids to blame for this.  They've created a monster, but they're still good people. Proof? I like my coffee strong (according to my pops, I don't brew coffee, I brew "triple strength mud"), black, and, most importantly, free-trade.  Apart from the aroma and the taste, I also love what coffee does to me emotionally (makes me happy as hell!), physically (makes me dance!), and mentally (makes me enter get-shit-done mode!).  Like a microphone, or a pooper scooper, coffee amplifies my natural abilities.  

So, when Allison and I were preparing for more Doctor Who this morning, and she suggested we make pancakes with coffee, there was no way for me to respond but with a misused "ALLONS-Y!" I don't actually know if I said that, but I thought it.  And the panqueques?  They tasted increíble.  Allison is a delightful person to spend kitchen time, TV-binge time, or any time with, so the process of making and enjoying these pancakes was fantastic.  She's a costume designer and librarian with a knack for crafts and DIYs, but her inventiveness surely makes its way into the kitchen too! I love this girl!  You will too if you try these...

Vegan Coffee Pancakes

Adapted from food.com's 5-minute vegan pancakes recipe

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup dark roast coffee, brewed strong

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1.  Brew coffee and set out all your ingredients.
2.  Set a stove element with a pan to medium heat.
3.  Combine the 4 dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder) in a bowl.
4.  Add the almond milk, coffee, and vegetable oil.
5.  Mix until smooth.
6.  Now the pan should be ready for your batter, so spoon one pancakes' worth of the mixture into the pan.
7.  Flip [carefully] when you see bubbles in the middle of the pancake, or if the edges are looking stiffened.
8.  Repeat until the batter is gone, and try not to eat them all while you're cooking them.

Notes: Plan on guzzling the leftover coffee (you can't just brew 1/2 cup!) while you eat the pancakes.  Allison and I made pancake babies (the size of cookies). We ate them with some delicious hazelnut spread, thus resulting in pure decadence. I highly encourage decadence. A great vegan option for hazelnut spread is Justin's. You've probably seen packets or jars of Justin's around.  Specialty food stores, such as Whole Foods, definitely carry Justin's, but I've also seen the brand at mainstream stores like Target.