Coconut Cream Cashew-Chai Pancakes

Up early, like watch-the-sunrise early, I made these amazing Coconut Cream Cashew-Chai Pancakes.

..because when one wakes up early on a Saturday, One must make pancakes. I think it's a rule.

No boring pancakes today thank you. These are luscious, coconut-maple-cream-filled, pillowy-stacked, cashew-studded, chai-essenced, coconut-dusted, kamut pancakes.

I used a Kamut grain vegan pancake mix - I adore kamut. And these are easy! Lets put it this way, I got out of bed at 8am and was photographing these babies by 8:30. Fast and yummy for a happy Saturday morning feast...

Kamut. I am in love with kamut pasta - so I decided to try kamut pancake mix. It has the same texture and consistency as a buckwheat pancake - perhaps a tad lighter. I was very impressed with the nutty sweet flavor of the pancakes. You can use any pancake mix you'd like. The one I used (Arrowhead Mills) basic ingredients: kamut flour, baking powder, dry soy milk powder, salt. 6g protein and 2g fat and good stuff like 8% RDA of iron and 20% RDA of calcium per 1/4 cup mix.

Then comes the coconut-maple cream filling. I used light coconut milk and made a stove-top thickened creamy sauce. A generous dose of maple syrup and cinnamon and suddenly my basic kamut pancakes become dessert-inspired and dreamy.

Get my recipe..

Coconut Cream Cashew-Kamut Pancakes

Pancakes
1 cup Kamut Pancake Mix
1/2 cup almond milk, plain
1/2 cup chai tea concentrate (or sub with more almond milk + 1 Tbsp sweetener)
2 Tbsp agave or maple syrup
dash of cinnamon
1/3 cup roasted/salted cashews
2 Tbsp oil (I used grape seed, canola works well too)

Coconut Cream
1 1/4 cups light coconut milk
dash of salt
1 Tbsp corn starch
4-5 Tbsp maple syrup

dusting: raw unsweetened coconut shreds

Directions:

1. Make your coconut sauce by dissolving corn starch into the light coconut milk. Add in the cinnamon and maple syrup as well. Heat in a soup pot - constantly stirring until thickened. I like to run a beater through my sauce to make it extra light and silky. Pour into a dish and chill in the fridge until needed. I like my sauce to thicken up a tad in the fridge - but still stay loose enough to drizzle nicely on the pancakes.

2. Next up you need to mix your pancake mix in a large bowl. Fold int he nuts. Then grease a sauce pan and start cooking your pancakes over a medium flame. If your pan is too hot the pancakes may burn more than you'd like. Transfer pancakes to paper towel to cool for stacking.

3. Assembling your stack is fun! First do a light dusting of coconut shreds. I use raw unsweetened organic coconut shreds. Then add one pancake, a dollop of coconut cream from the fridge and repeat until three layers have been created...

4. Top with coconut. Serve warm!