Having a pancake-obsessed boyfriend means they make for a very common breakfast item, especially now that slow breakfasts at home have become quite a regular occurrence. It also means that the classic batter has been done many times, and is now feeling kinda boring so I’ve been playing with different takes on it – the recent ones being pumpkin and beetroot puree and polenta. These ones here are a naturally sweet, rich and dense pancakes with cooked beetroot puree and raw cacao, and the method is as simple as when making any kind of batter, the only extra step is cooking a whole beet and peeling it. And if nothing else, they look pretty amazingly colourful.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium size beetroot, cooked and peeled
• 3 tbs raw cacao
• 4 tbs flour of choice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbs chia seeds (optional, if not add another spoon of flour)
• 2 eggs
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or buttermilk)
• Butter, ghee or oil for pan-frying
• Optional: cinnamon, reishi mushroom powder, cardamom, chopped walnuts

Toppings:

You can use anything you like with your usual pancakes and feel would taste good. On the photo there’s some pan-fried bananas caramelised with maple syrup, greek yoghurt, coconut, blueberries, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, home-made nutella and raspberry jam.

Method:

1. In a blender, blend together the milk, eggs and beetroot to get a smoothie like consistency.
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients you’re using, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and chia and spices, if using.
3. Transfer the beetroot mixture to a larger bowl and spoon by spoon add the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly with a whisk. Once you’ve got a nice uniform batter, let it rest for at least half an hour. It may smell a bit strongly “beetrooty” at this stage, but that won’t be the case after they’re baked.
4. To bake, simply melt some ghee, butter or oil on a large non-sticking pan and with a ladle or large serving spoon form pancakes of your preferred size. I like to do 3 at the time. Cook on medium-heat for approx. 2 min on each side.
5. Stack them up and serve with maple syrup, nut butter, butter, yogurt, berries, jams, nutella or whatever you like.