Paleo Choco-nana Pancakes (grain, dairy, refined sugar-free)

Goodness, this holiday season can kill anyone's best intentions.. along with Pinterest. I am convinced they've signed a deal with pharmaceutical company's in order to keep people in a sugar coma and the meds pumping in the system ... and therefore dollars pumping in their wallets.

But let's not go there.. this is a post about PANCAKES! And that means it needs to be a happy post!

Growing up, breakfast food was ALWAYS my favorite type of food. It wasn't uncommon to have breakfast for dinner, or lunch, or snack. I could eat pancakes, french toast, bacon, eggs and hash browns all day, errry day.

Wow, I did not just say that. Honestly, I don't know where it even comes from. I just keep hearing it and it's fun to say.

So, George over at Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations keeps sulking since I have yet to make one of his recipes. Don't get me wrong, all his recipes look super amazing, I just hadn't gone about it yet. And for the record, the one I super duper want to make involves a SMOKER, of which I do not have. George, if you can hear me - donate a smoker to me and it's ON!

Anyway, so I took his Paleo Pancakes recipe and made it my own. I hope that still counts as making "his" recipe. I figure, if anything, he figured out the science/ratio of ingredients behind it and I switched out something, added in a few more and made it mine.

The first thing I did was make my own cashew butter. His recipe used almond butter, but cashew butter gets so amazingly smooth and creamy that it makes anything you cook with it have a soft texture. For those who need a recipe (really, it's so easy a caveman could do it - oh yes I did!), here it is:

Cashew Butter

My cashew butter all whipped up

2 cups raw, unsalted cashews
Water

Put the cashews in a bowl and cover with water. Let soak for about 12 hours. You'll notice they expand a bit as time goes on. I like to change out the water when I think about it. Once they are done soaking, drain and rinse them well. Put them in a food processor and process until they are smooth and creamy. This can take a bit as they turn to a sort of meal first, then it's a big clump that keeps going around and around, then it starts to smooth out. If after a couple of minutes it's not smoothing out, add a tablespoon of water at a time until it's a thick nut butter consistency.

Now you reserve 1/2 cup of this butter for the pancakes and save the rest. May I suggest Against All Grain's "Grain-free Sandwich Bread"? It is seriously THE BEST Paleo bread you can make at home.

Now on to the pancakes!

Can you tell I used some leftover
"inferior" eggs and one pastured egg?? 

Paleo Choco-nana Pancakes

3 bananas

3 eggs

1/2 cup cashew butter

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa

Blend all ingredients well in a food processor. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto a griddle on medium-low heat. These pancakes don't flip super easily, so make them small and have the heat low enough that they do most of their cooking on the first side. Then quickly slip your spatula underneath and flip! Serve with some grassfed butter, bananas, berries, Grade B maple syrup - or whatever sounds good to you! 

So yummy - doesn't even need the syrup - but why not?!