I’m not generally a fan of sweet things for breakfast. My tastes run more to the savoury – eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, those kinds of things. Every now and then, though, I do get a craving for a pancake or a waffle and sometimes I especially get a craving to have a sweet breakfast-for-dinner. A blast of carbs and sugar in the evening doesn’t really set anyone up for a restful evening, however, and I am trying to be a overall healthier in my eating.
So I started looking around to see if I could “healthify” pancakes. I found a whole bunch of recipes that called for everything from almond flour to added protein powder to all kinds of Paleo options. But I also found dozens and dozens of recipes for a very simple cottage cheese and oat based pancake that looked interesting. There were variations of course; some of them called for whole eggs, some of them called for egg whites only, some of them called for a mix of cottage cheese and milk or almond milk, and a zillion other little tweaks. But the core of each recipe was the same; cottage cheese, oats, eggs. So to keep things simple that’s what I went with here: 1/2 cup each of cottage cheese and oats, plus 3 whole eggs.
You do need a blender or a food processor for these pancakes. Even a stick blender will do as long as you’re able to break up the curds in the cottage cheese and the flakes of oats. I tried mixing them by hand but it just doesn’t create a proper batter and what I wound up with was a lumpy mess held together by egg. NOT appealing. So definitely blend these.
After that, they cook just like a regular pancake. I used my cast iron pan and a little coconut oil. A little over a minute on the first side, until the bubbles started to pop through, and then a 30 second flip to brown up the 2nd side and finish cooking them.
Now I can’t tell you that a pat of butter and breakfast syrup adds to the healthy part but that’s what I was craving when I made these, so there it is. You could top them with fruit for a healthier version. I suspect you could also add fruit as you’re cooking them just like with traditional pancakes – berries or bananas or whatever floats your boat.
This recipe makes about 10 4″ pancakes and they’re extremely filling and more than enough for 2 or 3 people. Nutritionally the entire recipe breaks down as you see below – which means if you really want to eat the whole batch, it wouldn’t be terrible! However I could only eat 3 of them before I was completely full.
Quick update: My friend Melissa reports back that she made these with 1% cottage cheese instead of the 4% I used, used 2 whole eggs and 1 egg white, and added thinly sliced banana and they came out great.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant)
- 3 whole eggs
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients using a blender, stick blender, or food processor until you have a smooth batter.
- Use a pan over medium heat – if you’re not using a non-stick pan, you can use a little oil. I used coconut for this recipe.
- Pour onto the pan in rounds and cook for 1 min or until you see bubbles popping through the top. As the bubbles begin to pop, the pancake is ready to be turned. Flip it and cook for a further 30 seconds, just long enough to brown the bottoms.
- Serve with fruit, syrup, or any toppings of your choice.
Serving size: 1/2 recipe
Calories: 235 | Fat: 12g | Carbohydrates: 17g | Fiber: 3g | Protein: 16g