I’m a morning person. I can get up at 5 a.m. and be bursting with energy (which is unfortunate for the people who see me at that time and look like they want to punch me right in my word hole). One of my favorite things about those wonderfully peaceful hours before other people wake up is breakfast. I would eat breakfast foods for every meal if I could.
Upon discovering that I’m lactose intolerant, I found the downside to my favorite time of day: A lot of breakfast recipes have milk in them. I realized I could no longer have a lot of things I used to eat (albeit with some discomfort afterwards, but I had chosen to ignore it all those years).
But I would not forsake my love of breakfast, so I had to do something. I realized the simple fix would be to go buy some Lactaid and call it a day, but I refuse to make anything that simple. It’s much less fun that way. So instead of caving and joining the drug-dependent masses, I decided to embrace my newfound food “limitations” and create dishes that my milk-free self could consume. Challenge accepted.
I was pleased to discover that I could have certain dairy-based foods in smaller doses, such as cheese and Greek yogurt. So when I woke up one morning desperately craving pancakes, I sought a recipe that cut out the milk. To my delight, I found quite a few. And since I had some extra Oikos plain Greek yogurt in my fridge that needed to be used, I decided to make some skillet pancakes.
I altered the original recipe I found via Pinterest because the batter came out looking like cookie dough. (“Ladle the batter” my ass.) They used Chobani, but any sort of Greek yogurt will do the trick. I’ve also found that plain Greek yogurt is wonderful in all sorts of recipes, but you can substitute different flavors. (I won’t eat plain Greek yogurt straight though. I think it tastes horrid.)
All in all, I was pleased with the results of this experiment. I added a little bit of cinnamon to the recipe — and chocolate chips to the second half of the batter — to switch things up. I think next time I may not spread out the batter as much so they stay a bit thicker.
I also used Silk Almond Milk (Original) in my version so it was the right consistency, but since the original recipe didn’t have that included, I just eye-balled as I was mixing until the batter looked right.*
I hope you enjoy these pancakes as much as I did! Leave a comment to let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for this recipe or what to do next!
HOMEMADE SKILLET PANCAKES
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Oikos Greek nonfat yogurt (plain)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Silk almond milk (original) * (see notes above)
Dash of cinnamon, to taste
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Margarine for a nonstick skillet
Preparation:
In a mixing bowl, add sugar, egg, baking soda, salt, oil, vanilla extract, and yogurt; using a whisk, mix by hand. Add flour; mix thoroughly. I then added about 1/2 cup of almond milk and a dash of cinnamon to give the batter a different flavor and get it to the right consistency.
Cooking pancakes can be tricky because they can cook too quickly or end up soggy in the middle. Lightly coat your nonstick skillet with margarine. Turn your burner on a low heat; don’t let it overheat and smoke. Using a small ladle or spoon, pour batter into skillet. Leave room to flip each pancake comfortably. Cook the pancakes until bubbles form across the top of each one. Flip, and cook the remaining side until the center of each pancake is firm.
I made half with chocolate chips. I think they’re fine without them, but I was really craving chocolate. How many you can make at one time depends on the size of your skillet. I just made them one at a time.
This recipe made 6 pancakes.