I have yet to ever make Pesach on my own, not even the half-done version where you just clean your counter and fridge for Chol Hamoed.
I have always locked up my apartment, sold my chametz and made camp at my parents house. When I got married, my husband and I did the same thing except we now split our time between both our parents’ house. Turns out that wasn’t always so easy to coordinate, since my parents live in LA and his parents live in Boston, but we made it work because I had no interest in dealing with my apartment for Pesach.
Now that we live in Israel, we tried really hard to do the same thing, but logistically it just involved too many vacation days wasted on travel so we didn’t think it made so much sense. Upset with the prospects of being without my family for Pesach, I threw out the idea to my parents that they should just come here with everyone. Surprisingly, they were intrigued. We have a guest room in our apartment, and several of our friends were leaving for the holiday and offered us their apartments, so after figuring out all the details, tickets were booked! Plus, sleeping arrangements were finalized so that we wouldn’t actually be hosting anyone, and with that, the whole thing was forgotten for the next five months as my sister got engaged and that kind of took over everyone’s minds. Plus, who can really think about Pesach five months in advance? Well, I probably should have…
Now with Pesach quickly approaching, I am realizing that even though everyone will be sleeping elsewhere, every single meal will be eaten at my apartment. Including breakfast! I am so not a breakfast person. I sooooometimes will make myself eggs, but I usually eat my first meal of the day around 1 PM. Actually, let’s be honest, only on a good day will that happen — on a busy day I really forget to eat until 3 PM. So with Pesach officially only a few weeks away, I set out to create some new breakfast recipes along with all my dinner ideas.
To make this whole thing more challenging (because Pesach isn’t hard enough already) I come from a non-gebrokts family, so although I can eat gebrokts now that I have a husband who does so, all my recipes still need to be non-gebrokts for my parents. So to kick off this challenge, I came up with these delicious almond flour pancakes. While they are definitely not going to taste like regular fluffy pancakes, and don’t get me wrong, a matzah meal variety would probably taste closer to the real thing, these were really delicious for what they are. Here are some tricks I figured out as I burnt the first few batches: Tip #1, make them mini pancakes rather than big ones as the batter is too thick to flip on large pancakes. Tip #2, they burn quickly! So cook over a low flame and keep an eye on it! Lastly, tip #3, definitely sweeten these up with some silan and ricotta cheese – it really adds to the overall flavor.
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
mini pancakes
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- 1 1/2 cups almond flour the finer, the better
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp ricotta
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cups chocolate chips
Ingredients
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- In a large bowl whisk together the almond flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add in the milk, honey, ricotta, eggs, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Whisk until combined well.
- Add in the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
- Heat up a frying pan (non-stick is best) over a low flame. Spray a kosher for Pesach cooking oil or put a very little amount of oil such as walnut, coconut and sunflower oil. Lay down round egg/pancake molds (if they are not non-stick, then spray with a little oil).
- Pour a small amount of batter into each mold. Cook the pancake for about 3-4 minutes, until the bottom is golden. Loosen from the mold with a spatula, remove the mold, and flip the pancake. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is finished.
- Top the mini pancakes with ricotta cheese, silan and fresh berries.
Tip #1, make them mini pancakes rather than big ones as the batter is too thick to flip on large pancakes.
Tip #2, they burn quickly! So cook over a low flame and keep an eye on it!
Tip #3, definitely sweeten these up with some silan and ricotta cheese - it really adds to the overall flavor.
