♥Whiskey and I are on vacation and we’re going all out on big breakfasts. Buttermilk pancakes are widely considered to be the end all be all of pancakedom, but sadly dairy doesn’t love me as much as I love dairy. I swapped coconut oil and coconut milk for the buttermilk and butter in this recipe and was quite pleased. Whiskey was limited to one bite, which she found to be insufficient for a proper taste test♥.

Ingredients:

• Flour- 2 cups
• Sugar (coconut sugar is my jam)-  2 tablespoons (add a little extra if you like ’em sweet)
• Baking Soda- 1 1/2 tsp
• Baking Powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Himalayan Salt- a pinch or two
• Coconut Milk (whole milk, buttermilk, half and half, goats milk…you know the drill)- 2 1/2 cups
• Eggs- 2 large…does anyone buy small eggs anymore? 
• Coconut Oil (butter, ghee…)- 3 tbsp
• Orange Zest- from 2 large oranges
• Vanilla Beans (if you’re feeling fancy)- I generally use 2, that might make me a glutton. 
• Vanilla Extract (if you can’t get enough of the stuff)- 1 tsp
• Strawberries and syrup (the sky is the limit here folks)

Recipe:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the middle for the eggs, oil, extract and coconut milk. I like to shave the zest into the dry ingredients.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who doesn’t have a thing for vanilla? I love bringing it home from vacation. My man calls it hoarding, I like to think of it as a collecting. These beauties are from Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific. Think cargo cults, WWII-era ship wrecks and glorious, glorious vanilla. We’ve been visiting for several years now, the islands are stunning and the locals are wonderful! Especially our dear friends Chris and Nilda! They turned us on to this incredible vanilla♥.

The rest is pretty standard stuff and frankly you already know the drill. Get your pan fired up (I use coconut oil, but pick your poison), mix the wet with the dry while the pan is heating and fry those babies up.

♥I’m a fan of keeping the finished product warm in the oven, but if you’re trying to feed a hungry crew it may not be worth the extra effort. Pancakes disappear from my oven when I have my back turned, so I figure adding more to a dwindling stack makes me the pancake equivalent of Sisyphus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optional (if you’re feeling froggy):

Bacon! Okay, when is bacon ever truly optional? Never. At least not in my house. Besides, pancakes without bacon are sad, lonely carbs. Don’t have sad, lonely carbs for breakfast!

We’re all pretty keen on thick cut bacon, but honesty who complains about bacon of any kind? Whiskey and I both voted for thick cut bacon this morning and since it’s just us, I figured no harm, no foul. We’ll save the turkey bacon for skinny days. Hopefully we’ll have some of those sooner rather than later. My mom taught me a quick trick for cooking the whole pack in one fell swoop, cut the thick strips in half and it cuts down on the curling and splattering. One of these days, I’ll start cooking bacon in the oven like a proper big kid. One of these days…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just in case you missed her cute lil mug, here’s Whiskey once again. Little devil held still for half a second, just long enough for a quick picture.