Buckwheat Pecan Pancakes with Honeyed Clementines

A morning with pancakes seems to mean a morning without rush.  Pancakes mean there is time to sit and enjoy the sun's rays peaking into the window, soon to flood the room with light.  Pancakes mean you can savor each and every bite, forgetting for a minute the millions of things you have to do.  Pancakes encourage a bit of reading in that book that has been collecting dust on your nightstand.  A morning with pancakes is relaxing, renewing, and refreshing after a week full of hustle and bustle.

My week days tend to be quite busy so my weekends allow for a bit of downtime.  Though I love my morning yogurt and granola combo, I usually crave something a little more substantial on the weekend.  I want a breakfast that I can enjoy slowly before greeting the sun and starting my day.  Pancakes are a good stand-by, and this buckwheat pecan variety was particularly delicious last Sunday.

The honeyed clementines really brighten up these hearty pancakes, providing a lovely contrast of flavors and textures.  If you can't find or don't have clementines (also called "cuties"), feel free to use any orange variety that is available to you.  You can easily make the honeyed clementines ahead of time and keep them in the fridge.  Just make sure to warm them through before enjoying them with the pancakes.

Buckwheat Pecan Pancakes with Honeyed Clementines
notes: The only thing keeping this entire recipe from being 100% vegan are the honeyed clementines. You can easily replace the honey with agave, or, cook down a bit of natural cane sugar with clementine juice to create your own syrup if you like.  I supremed the clementines because I didn't want any of the pith, but you can peel them by hand and separate the segments to save some time if you want.  

for the pancakes:
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tbsp flaxmeal
2 tbsp sucanat or coconut sugar
1 cup almond milk (or other milk of your choice)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
about 1 cup of chopped pecans
oil for the pan

Add the apple cider to the milk and set it aside. In one bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices until combined.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk/vinegar mixture, sucanat, and flaxmeal.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix the batter until smooth and combined.  Let the mixture sit and thicken a bit while you heat a cast iron skillet or other heavy bottomed pan over medium heat.  When the pan is ready, give the batter one last mix.  Add a bit of oil to the pan, swirl it around, then pour in about 1/4 cup of batter.  Sprinkle some pecans on the surface.  The pancake is ready to flip when you start seeing bubbles across the surface.  Gently flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is browned, about 2 minutes or so.  Continue with the remaining batter.  Serve warm with honeyed clementines and a sprinkle of pecans.  Makes about 8-10 pancakes.

for the honeyed clementines
8-10 clementines
1/2 cup honey (or agave)
2 tbsp water
1 cinnamon stick

Heat the honey, water, and cinnamon stick over low heat.  While the honey is heating up, supreme* the clementines over a bowl, making sure to catch any juices.  Squeeze out any remaining juice from the piths/clementine leftovers into the bowl.  Add the clementine segments and juices to the honey and warm over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Remove the cinnamon stick and serve warm over the pancakes.

*for a tutorial on how to supreme citrus, check out this link

Here's to wishing everyone a relaxing and refreshing weekend :)