Little Women: Buckwheat Pancakes (GF)
Little Women: Recipe #1
Early on in the book, the girls choose to sacrifice their Christmas breakfast feast to give as good-natured charity to their poor, hungry neighbors. The Hummels are German immigrants living in extreme poverty with multiple children and only a roof over their heads to be thankful for. The father is out of the picture (presumably away at war), so when the matriarch of the family falls ill at Christmastime, Mrs. March (Marmee), steps in to help as best she can.
Among the bounty the girls carry to the Hummels is “buckwheats.” After a bit of research, I found this means buckwheat pancakes, which used to be a very common breakfast staple in the 1800s and early 1900s in America. These are simply pancakes made with buckwheat flour instead of regular wheat, which renders them gluten-free as well! As the March family lives up north in Massachussetts, they would likely eat their buckwheats with butter and good northern maple syrup.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups buckwheat flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 Tbsp vegan butter, melted
2 cups oat milk (or any plant-based milk)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions:
In a medium sized bowl, stir together oat milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit 5 minutes (This creates a buttermilk taste).
In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Whisk in milk/vinegar mixture and melted butter until batter is relatively smooth but still a tad lumpy. Do not over-mix!
Grease a non-stick pan or cast-iron skillet and pre-heat on medium for about 5 minutes before cooking the batter.
When pan is hot, ladle batter onto the pan. Cook for 2-3 min until bubbles appear on pancake surface that don’t disappear when they pop. Flip pancake and cook until both sides are nicely browned.
Serve with vegan butter and maple syrup.
Enjoy!
