My TIU Unicorn
K&K keep repeating that you can eat pancakes on the plan. It's pretty awesome. When I got last year's Bikini Program, I got really excited - pancakes?! How amazing! Except I could NOT make them. I've always baked and cooked - I enjoy it; it relaxes me. But the Perfect Fit Pancake remained elusive. I kept hearing Joey's "you are my Everest." And the pancakes remained my TIU unicorn for almost a year.
I'm not alone - this is frequently discussed on Instagram, Facebook and the community. Something seemingly easy - it hardly has enough ingredients for it to be screwed up. I kept thinking, what can go wrong?! I heard adding baking soda was the trick. Other's said baking powder. There were some mentions of apple sauce. [Side note: I was just scrolling though Instagram and there was a "help! how do I make PFPs post" - the struggle is real, folks].
I've never been great at following recipes to a T. In boarding school I'd make pancakes by feel. Thus, the first time I made these babes it was an EPIC fail - I mean, mushy, sticky and runny. Inedible. I figured, okay, I guess I have to follow the recipe exactly. Which already had me annoyed. The next time I tried them was while visiting my parents. Thank gawd, they were out of the house. I smoked the entire kitchen and the pan was a brown, black mess. It was NOT pretty.
I stopped trying for a bit. It seemed like a waste of ingredients. But, after reading a flurry of tips recently, I decided to give it a try. This may have been incited by the "cook on low, I'm talking go-take-a-shower-low." That sounded doable.
The #TIUpancakes aka Perfect Fit Pancakes use protein powder, egg whites, banana, almond milk and cinnamon. That's it. I know, that's what I kept thinking.... how can I possibly be screwing this up?!
Here are my tweaks for protein pancakes. The ingredients I use are as follows (for 2 servings, because who uses half a banana?):
1 banana, mashed
1 egg
1/4 cup oat milk
2 servings protein powder
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
Lemme explain why I swapped (and added) some ingredients. First off, when I buy eggs I do not purchase egg whites (although when trying these before I did just try with egg whites). I will if I can figure out WHAT happens with the egg yolks. I can't justifying simply having egg yolks tossed just because I want to eat a lot of egg whites. This is my personal decision. When I have the research together, I certainly post it here but please do not consider this anything other than a personal decision.
Along the same lines, I am researching what is done with the pulp that is produced from commercially available nut milks, as well as other alternatives to milk. Again, personal decision. After using almond milk (with almonds from Spain - I couldn't justify CA almonds in Europe, especially with the drought), which doesn't hold up well to heating, even when I made it myself. I opted to try out a few others. I like oat milk, it's a little frothier than almond milk and I'm hoping it's a little less eco-taxing. I've made it myself, which is very simple and analog to other nut milks but I have also reached out to the producer of one available commercially to ask what is done with the pulp. No satisfying answer - besides "we give it to farmers," yet. But I'll get to the bottom of it.
I tried making these pancakes without baking soda and baking powder - it did not work. Also, while Perfect Fit is the best in my opinion, I have also made these with Sun Warrior Classic Protein Vanilla and it works just as well (international shipping on PF is SO expensive). So here are my two keys to the making-them process. Ready?
Mix everything together BUT the baking soda and powder. I'll tell you when to add it.
SUPER low heat - seriously, go-take-a-shower low or do-the-daily-moves low. Take your pick. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But not by much.
Once you've mashed the banana, added the egg, cinnamon and protein powder the batter will be really sticky. It's more like sticky dough. Add just enough (oat) milk so that you can easily mix the batter with a fork - not runny, but enough that you can easily spoon it into a pan. When you tilt the pan the batter should move and even out the pancake a bit. Does that make sense?
Turn on the stove and use a non stick pan - add a little coconut oil (or baking spray) and turn up the heat for about two minutes. You do not want the oil to smoke - that means it's too hot. If your coconut oil is at room temp it's solid, basically once it melts you are good to go.
Now, add the baking soda and powder and beat the batter briefly with a fork. You're not adding these earlier because once it's in the dough they start doing their thang. I use a spoon to scoop the batter into the pan. About one and a half soup spoonfuls makes a pancake with about a 2 inch diameter. Now, TURN DOWN THE HEAT. If you have an electric stove, I hover around 3 while making the pancakes.
Crank up the music, do a bootay dance - brew coffee or do the daily moves. Honest. it takes a while. When you can slip a spatula underneath the edges without it sticking - you can try to slide the spatula under the whole pancake. If it's easy and doesn't stick or push the pancake towards the edge - flip it!
That's it. It takes some practice, but you WILL get there. With LOW heat and the courage to wait a while - really, the first time I waited that long, I was suuuuuure the pancakes was burnt.
Some of my fav toppings include skyr, almond butter & cacao nibs; skyr, blueberries &coconut shaving; skyr, strawberries & chia seeds. And, of course, maple syrup!
xx
