Oat Cakes

In a continuous effort to please my toddler and please the "mommy in me", I have been trying to cook healthier, kid friendly foods.  Breakfast is the hardest time of the day for me to do this because we are all hungry, impatient and un-caffeinated, which is why I tend to pull out an Eggo waffle, pop it in the toaster and serve it for breakfast.  I do not necessarily think that there is anything wrong with boxed waffles for a 2 year old who will throw 50% of it on the floor, but I like to stay away from processed foods when I can.  Franny loves Manna Cafe's (a favorite local breakfast spot) Oat Cakes and I think that I finally have gotten the recipe pretty close. Not only do these pancakes taste delicious, they are a great source of whole grains. The recipe yields about 15  pancakes, so I usually put them in a freezer safe bag, pull them out in the morning, and pop them in the toaster to thaw.

Oat Cakes

Makes about 15 pancakes

3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 cup cooked oatmeal (I used old fashioned oats)
1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses
2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, molasses and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Heat a frying pan to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; Dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is brown. Remove pancakes from pan and continue with the rest of the batter.