DAIRY FREE AND GLUTEN FREE PANCAKE AND MUFFINS

Pancakes are ideal for breakfast and the children love it very much. Despite it being a messy task, I love making it. It's funny but quite true that it's almost as though the utensils used are more than the ingredients itself. By the time I wash the dirty pile of utensils and settle down to eat the pancakes, I'm exhausted. But then the other day to my greatest surprise, I found a very unique kitchen hack on youtube. It shows how to make pancakes using only a bottle and a funnel. All you have to do is pour the pancake ingredients one by one into the bottle through the funnel. Tightly close the lid and shake the bottle vigorously till you get everything into a batter consistency. Then heat a non stick crepe pan and make your pancakes.

We recently discovered that our second daughter is gluten sensitive - along with being lactose intolerant. I had to do a lot of research through the internet so that I would know what type of meal I could prepare for her. I experimented with all sorts of flours and milks but nothing seemed to work. It was not until today that, as a first attempt, I tried my hands on corn meal. And I am happy to state that it came out quite well. I used the bottle technique to make pancake batter with cornflour.
In addition to her lactose and gluten intolerances, she had also been avoiding eggs as it caused her abdominal discomfort and bloating. However, through my online findings, I have read that eating egg as it is can cause those problems but incorporating with other ingredients may alleviate it. So I decided to add them as well into the pancake batter. And thank God, she did not experience any side effects.
I also made a syrup with jaggery: made using a sweet substance from palm trees.

Ingredients for cornflour pancake
1 cup corn flour
1 cup almond milk
salt to taste
1/2 tsp baking soda and I added a little water to make it a batter consistency

Method
I used the bottle technique as mentioned above.


Blue berry Muffins  were made using the corn flour pancake recipe .

Delicious Date Muffins

The weather here is so cold and it makes the children hungry more often .The other day,a little later after we had our lunch,the children wanted me to serve something for dessert.Since I didnt have any prepared ones in my refrigerator,I decided to make something from scratch.I  really enjoyed adding some new ingredients to a recipe that I had tried earlier.I had  first tried this recipe with plums. Since then,I have made with various other  fruits like apples,bananas and raisins and nuts However this time I  thought I will  try with yet another kind.So I added Dates to this recipe.Believe me,this was really, really good.The aroma was so irresistible that we were all waiting with plates and spoons to eat it straight from the oven.Trust me,don’t postpone, try making  them  immediately.It was so delectable eating it still warm and with a steaming cup of tea..This is something    wonderful   to  delightfully indulge  on a cold afternoon.

Date Muffins

1 and 1/2 cups flour

250 grams sweetened condensed milk

60 grams butter or ghee (room temperature)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chopped dates (seeds removed)

cake sprinkles ( I used chocolate sprinkles)

Method

Sieve together the flour,baking soda and baking powder.

Put the above  sieved ingredients in a large bowl.

Now stir into it  the condensed milk,butter or ghee,vanilla essence and water.

Thorough mix and then fold in the chopped dates.

Grease the muffin tray and pour in  the batter ( do not fill to the top)

Sprinkle with  chocolate (sprinkles)

Bake in a hot oven till done ( about 15-20 minutes)

( Makes a dozen large size muffins)

Enjoy!