Japanese pancakes, also known as fluffy pancakes, are a super soft Japanese dessert made from eggs, sugar, flour and milk.
Today I propose a lighter version without sugar, made with wholemeal spelt flour. Compared to the classic pancakes we all know, these are thicker and have a light airy texture, thanks to the whipped egg whites. To the eye, they look like real mini cotton cheesecakes.
Personally I have never been lucky enough to eat the original Japanese pancakes, in fact it was also the first time I made them.
Precisely for this reason I was a little intimidated, but I liked the result very much, I got some soft sugar-free Japanese pancakes with a delicate flavor, I would almost dare to say ‘neutral’.
This aspect makes them perfect with any pairing for a healthy and nutritious breakfast or snack. I like the idea of being able to give a dessert many possibilities of tastes and colors, so as to make it different and fun every time.
Having never made the recipe before, I didn’t feel like changing it too much, I deliberately left the same proportions as the original, replacing only the flour, sugar and milk. I used erythritol instead of sugar because I’ve fallen in love with it ever since I discovered it.
It is a neutral zero calorie natural sweetener that does not alter the flavors and has a very low glycemic index.
This Japanese Pancakes recipe is taken from the blog Delicious Breakfast (in Italian) where you can also find other interesting recipes.
Japanese Pancakes (sugar-free)
Japanese Pancakes (aka Fluffy Pancakes), sugar-free and made with whole spelt flour. Super thick, they melt in your mouth!
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 eggs
- 50 gr (1/2 cup) Whole spelt flour
- 10 gr (1 1/2 tablespoon) Coconut flour - alternatively 30 gr (10 tablespoons) whole spelt flour
- 60 gr (5 tablespoons) Erythritol - alternatively 50 gr (1/4 cup) brown sugar or 20 gr (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons) truvia
- 40 gr (2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons) Soy milk
- 1/2 vanilla bean seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 6 gr (2 teaspoons) instant yeast
Filling:
- White Chocolate Protein Cream
- Raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries
Instructions
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding the erythritol a little bit at a time.
- Zest half a lemon and mix it to yolks
- Add the yolks a little bit at a time into the egg whites, using a spatula whip with delicate movements from the bottom upwards.
- Pour in the soy milk while stirring gently. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites.
- Separately, sift the spelt flour with the coconut flour, the ground cinnamon, the seeds of half a vanilla bean and the baking powder.
- Then incorporate them into the dough a little at a time, always mixing from the bottom up until you have a full-bodied compound without lumps.
- Heat a non-stick pan, make seven discs with parchment paper of the same circumference as the pastry rings.
- Insert the first disc inside the pastry ring (alternatively oil it well otherwise the pancakes will stick) and place it inside the pan.
- Pour three tablespoons of dough, filling the pastry ring 2/3 full, add two tablespoons of water to the pan - not in contact with the pancake - close with the lid and cook for about 4/5 minutes over low heat.
- Flip the pancake, add two tablespoons of water back to the pan, close the lid and cook for another 4/5 minutes.
- Repeat the process for the remaining pancakes, until the dough is finished.
Decorate the sugar-free Japanese pancakes according to your taste,
I used the white chocolate protein cream, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and a chocolate sauce, made by mixing raw criollo cocoa powder and water.
Notes
You need a pastry ring 3 inches.
You can replace spelt flour with wholemeal flour or oat flour.
Nutrition Information
Yield 7 Serving Size 1Amount Per ServingCalories 69