Energising Chocolate Pancakes with Maple Tahini Sauce
Delicious and nutrient dense, these dairy-free energising chocolate pancakes are made with sprouted spelt flour, chestnut flour, chia seeds, cocoa, eggs and hemp milk. Serve with a maple, tahini and lime sauce for sweetness and zing.
When I ordered my latest supplies from Suma, it was around Pancake Day so I had pancakes very much in mind. I wasn’t quite sure what sort I would make, but I ordered a few things which might be suitable. With Easter fast approaching, I finally plumped for some uber healthy yet delicious chocolate pancakes for Easter, which I thought a fine idea.
Easter Breakfast
I always like to have something special for Easter breakfast and what could be more appropriate than eggs and chocolate? Something to give an energy boost perhaps? Our Easter weekends are usually active ones. It’s an opportunity for a good walk on the moors or along the coast and it’s always time to get some serious action down on the plot.
In the spirit of an energising breakfast, I added chia seeds to an already potent mix of sprouted spelt flour, eggs, cocoa and hemp milk.
Whole Food Supplies
My supplies came from the brilliant whole food worker’s co-operative, Suma. I’d ordered coconut sugar in case I made chocolate sauce to accompany my pancakes. But in the end I decided to make chocolate pancakes instead and accompany them with a sweet nutty sauce made from maple syrup, tahini and lime juice.
It’s true that I have a sweet tooth, but I don’t like to eat excessive amounts of sugar; I rarely add sugar to my pancakes. I don’t really see the point as you can add whatever you like to the finished pancakes – sweet or savoury.
Coconut sugar is unrefined and has a lower GI than sugar as we know it, so it’s considered a healthier option. I may not have used it in these pancakes, but I did in the free-from-nearly-everything chocolate coconut cannellini cake I made for Mother’s Day.
In the spirit of free-from, I made these chocolate pancakes dairy free. Normally I’d use kefir, but I’d heard quite a bit about hemp milk and wanted to try it. Hemp milk is rich in omega 3 & 6 fatty acids and unlike soya, hemp grows well in the UK.
The one I’d ordered is unsweetened but it had a surprising almost caramel scent and flavour. It tastes creamy and really very nice. One of the best milk substitutes I’ve come across. In fact I was so impressed it wasn’t long before I started to make my own hemp milk.
As well as sprouted spelt flour, I also wanted to try out chestnut flour and ended up using a mixture of half and half. The batter for these chocolate pancakes is quite thick, so it makes the cooking process super easy. I dolloped heaped spoonfuls of batter into the pan without it dribbling or splashing all over the place.
Nutrient Dense Chocolate Pancakes
The quantity I’ve used in the recipe below makes twelve substantial pancakes. We had three each for breakfast yesterday and I’ve frozen the other six for an Easter breakfast in a few days time. You can either be warm them up in the oven or put them in a toaster.
They’re delicious and easily powered us through to lunchtime and beyond. The chestnut flour provides a hearty, warming quality on a chilly morning and the maple tahini sauce gives a zingy sweet and sour tang. A perfect contrast and complement to the slow burn carbs from the spelt and chestnut flours. A few berries would make a welcome addition if you happen to have any to hand.
Other Dairy Free Pancakes You Might Like
- Buckwheat pancakes via Gluten Free SCD and Veggie
- Chocolate banana pancakes via Tin and Thyme
- Courgette & chickpea pancakes via Tin and Thyme
- Lemon poppyseed pancakes via Veggie Inspired
- Pea protein pancakes with spicy peanut sauce via Tin and Thyme
- Spicy buckwheat pancakes via Give Me Some Spice
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these energising chestnut chia chocolate pancakes, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like to see some pancake recipes that are rather more decadent, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Chestnut Chia Chocolate Pancakes. PIN IT.
Energising Chestnut Chia Chocolate Pancakes – The Recipe
Chestnut Chia Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes
- 115 g wholemeal spelt flour (4oz (I used sprouted spelt))
- 115 chestnut flour (4oz)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 2 large eggs
- 300 ml hemp milk (10 fl oz)
- coconut oil for frying
Maple Tahini Sauce
- 1 tbsp dark tahini
- ½ lime juiced
- 50 ml pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Place all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together.
- Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs.
- Add some of the milk and whisk from the inside out, adding a little more milk as you go until everything is well mixed.
- Leave to stand for ten minutes or so while you make the sauce and get the kettle on.
- Heat a non stick frying pan to a moderate high heat and add a small knob of coconut oil.
- Place tablespoonfuls of batter into the pan (I got three in mine) and cook until air bubbles start to appear on the surface (about 3 mins). Turn over and cook for a further 2 mins. Pile on a plate and place into a warm oven.
- Repeat until all of the batter is used up.
Maple Tahini Sauce
- Stir the lime juice into the tahini until smooth.
- Whisk in the maple syrup.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
These dairy-free chestnut chia chocolate pancakes are my third recipe for the Suma Blogger’ Network.
As pancakes freeze so well and are quick and easy to defrost, I’m sending these off to Cook Once Eat Twice with Corina at Searching for Spice.
Love that you use chestnut flour in these pancakes – with a Corsican husband (it’s a staple in Corsica) have been adding it for years and love its flavour in cakes.
Like the touch of chia seeds in there! Lovely.
Thank you Jill. I really like chestnut flour, but it’s not that easy to get hold of here. Have you tried castagnaccio? It’s Italian, but your husband might like it.
I love pancakes! Will definitely give it a go
Let me know how you get on Isabel.
I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard of chestnut flour! These look delicious though – as you say, perfect for this time of year 🙂
It’s a new flour for me, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it and I’m looking forward to experimenting some more.
A perfect plate of pancakes! I love chestnut flour and have used it particularly in bread and cakes.
The hemp milk sounds interesting……. May just have to try that if it is anywhere near cows milk!
Thanks Kate. I’ve heard chestnut flour is good in bread, so looking forward to trying that. I wouldn’t say hemp milk was much like cow’s milk, but its white and doesn’t curdle in hot drinks. I quite like the flavour, but it is distinctive.
Oooh, these sound amazing! So many great flavours and healthy ingredients. I haven’t tried chestnut flour, but I shall.
Thanks Kate. Chestnut flour is a new one for me too, so I’m looking forward to trying it in something else now.
Slightly incoherent with want, so many of my favourite flavours. Adore tahini, adore maple, and of course chocolate!!!
Having just eaten far more than I should have done, I don’t think I could manage a pancake now if it came up and bit me. Tomorrow morning, however, is another story 🙂
what an interesting list of ingredients – sounds like delicious pancakes – I bought chestnut flour once and managed to never find a use for it so I like the sound of this use.
Oh no Johanna! I’ve been wanting to chestnut flour for ages, but it’s so expensive. I’ve heard it works really nicely in bread. That’s my next experiment.
These pancakes look delicious and sound positively virtuous:-)
Haha, the idea is to have a virtuous breakfast so you don’t need to feel guilty about indulging in chocolate eggs 😉
oooh, they look so thick and gorgeous. I adore chestnuts so i’m intrigued by the flour you’ve used. A lovely idea for Easter breakfast too x
Thin crepe like pancakes are delicious too, but if you’re going to have thick ones, make them really thick 😉
What a lovely recipe, full of amazing natural ingredients. I love the idea of a tahini sauce and if i had all these ingredients to hand I would be making these over the weekend!
Thanks Laura. The tahini sauce was so good I just wanted to eat it up with a spoon. You mean you don’t have all those ingredients to hand? 😉
These look so pretty Chocolette, and I love the sound of the Maple Tahini sauce – inspired! These would be a great breakfast treat for Easter Sunday morning – will give them a try!
Thanks Kate, I get the odd flash of inspiration from time to time 😉 Enjoy your Easter.
I think these look great, really unusual! I’ve never seen tahini used in this way. And thanks for introducing me to Suma, will be looking into those guys.
Thanks Alex. I’ve often combined tahini with honey, but this is the first time I’ve paired it with maple syrup.
These sound wonderful! I have never used chestnut flour before, but it sound so good! Thanks for linking up to my Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes!
My pleasure Jenn. I’m a sucker for trying out different flours, but this is my first time using chestnut flour – it’s lovely stuff.
These sound so delicious Choclette and perfect for Easter breakfast – I must try hemp milk, I think it’s the only non dairy milk I haven’t tried and it sounds fab!
Thanks Chris. It’s the nicest one I’ve come across, apart from coconut milk and it works well in hot drinks too.
These sound so healthy and I love the sound of the tahini maple sauce. Thank you for joining in with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Thanks Corina. The sauce is super delicious and I could have quite happily just spooned the whole lot up from the jug without bothering with the pancakes – though they were very good too 😉
Everything about the flavours here sounds amazing! I’m going to be very tempted to whip up some chocolate pancakes this weekend.
Oh go for it Natalie, it is Easter after all 😉
These look so delicious and I love that you’ve added like to the tahini sauce. I’m sure they would be easy to convert to gluten free. I haven’t tried chestnut flour yet but I’ve heard so many good things about it. Thank you for sharing my recipe.
Thanks Vicky. Gluten free? Easy peasy. Just use buckwheat flour instead, but I’m sure you know far more about this than I do. I’m quite taken by the chestnut flour, but it is phenomenally expensive.
Yes, I was thinking buckwheat flour would be perfect especially combined with chestnut flour.
I love buckwheat flour and use it quite a lot.