A few years ago, my sister and I were brainstorming fun things to do while we had some coveted time together over the holidays. “Gingerbread pancakes!” I remember exclaiming. I could just picture it: our house in the snow, and my sister and I in our PJs eating gingerbread pancakes. So Alex and I created a spiced, hearty gingerbread pancakes recipe for the occasion, and they truly are everything that I imagined.
Gingerbread pancakes…with a hearty oatmeal flair!
Alex and I are rather particular about our pancakes. The standard pancake recipe is full of all purpose flour and sugar, which leaves us hungry literally 1 hour later. Honestly, I feel hungrier in the morning when I eat an all purpose flour pancake than if I ate nothing at all! So Alex and I started adding lots of oat flour (ground oats) to our pancakes. The result is a delicious pancake that’s full of nutrients and keeps you full for hours! We used this trick in our gingerbread pancakes, and it makes for a hearty and healthy breakfast or brunch. How to make oat flour at home? If you can find it, you can buy oat flour for this recipe — it’s become a lot easier to find at the grocery. But since we always have rolled oats on hand, we find it easier to make our own oat flour! Place the oats into a high speed blender or food processor and blend until it becomes the consistency of flour. The quantities are 1 to 1: so 1 cup oats equals 1 cup oat flour. It’s easy as that!
Tips for making gingerbread pancakes!
These oatmeal pancakes feature gingerbread spice ingredients to make them taste just like gingerbread cake or cookies, using cinnamon, ginger, and allspice. For a bit of that authentic flavor, there’s a hint of molasses! The dark depth of the molasses is what makes these gingerbread pancakes really shine. Here are a few tips for whipping up a batch:
Add a splash of milk before cooking each batch. The batter for these pancakes is thick because the oats soak up more of the liquid than an all-flour pancake would. Before you cook each batch on the griddle, add a splash of milk to get it to a pourable consistency. Top with a little maple syrup. Top these pancakes a bit of pure maple syrup, and they taste like gingerbread dough! Using a hint of maple really helps to bring out the flavors.
Holiday tip: use a pancake shaper!
To amp up the fun around the holidays, use a pancake shaper for these gingerbread pancakes! Alex and I made these pancakes using a gingerbread man pancake shaper, and was a fun activity to do with our toddler! Kids (and adults) love it. Here’s the gingerbread pancake shaper we used. Of course, they taste just as good in circular form, so it’s just a fun bonus: not required!
Can you make them gluten-free?
Yes! These gingerbread pancakes are perfect for a holiday breakfast; we make them on Christmas Day for brunch! They’re easy to make into gluten free pancakes: because they’re mostly made of oat flour, all you’ll need to do is substitute 1-for-1 gluten-free flour for the ¾ cup all purpose flour. It’s possible that you could use some other alternate flours to stand in here (like almond flour or others), but we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you try!
This gingerbread pancakes recipe is…
Vegetarian. To make gluten free, substitute 1-for-1 gluten free flour for the all purpose flour.
Looking for more breakfast ideas?
Outside of these gingerbread pancakes, we have dozens of vegan breakfast ideas and healthy breakfast recipes on our website. Here are a few of our favorites: 5 from 1 review
Gingerbread Waffles Apple Cinnamon Pressure Cooker Steel Cut Oats Banana Oatmeal Pancakes Acai Bowl Recipe Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pancakes Toasted Pecan Homemade Muesli Healthy Banana Bread Muffins Healthy Banana Bread The Best Cup of Coffee or Cold Brew Coffee Best Zucchini Bread Turmeric Vegan Blueberry Muffins DIY Instant Oatmeal Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal Pancakes Vegetarian Spinach Quiche
Last updated: December 2019
