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These paleo gingerbread pancakes taste just like a slice of gingerbread cake! Fluffy and rich, these paleo gingerbread pancakes are the ultimate healthy Christmas breakfast. Gluten free and grain free.
I’ve always loved gingerbread, and no, not the crunchy little cutouts, the ones that fight rat kings in your sleep. Those, to me, are an assault on the spiced and tender cake that gingerbread represents. Spiked with molasses and served entirely too infrequently in December.
But it wasn’t until I visited Passau, Germany with my mother on a Viking River Cruise last year that I realized the full depth of my predilection.
Having passed through an intense two-week obsession with Ancestry.com, coincidentally just long enough for my free trial to expire, I lobbied for us to stay in Passau when we docked, rather than driving to another German excursion. I recognized the town from my protracted family tree, insisting upon walking around imagining what great-great-great-great-grandfather Peter or Johann did during the floods and where they drank their beer and how they looked at the Danube from the top of the town.
And naturally, I Googled. The highest rated place to eat was easily a little sweets shop, Café Simon, which wouldn’t do for lunch but would certainly suffice when we needed a quick little stop for sweets and bubbly after a bit of shopping for the men we left back in the States.
On the trip, we’d heard often of the real German gingerbread, and, loving the heady sweet to start with, I absolutely had to hunt some down.
Café Simon was impressive to put it mildly. In the middle of Passau, an otherwise low-key town whose tour included a couple churches and markers on a building where it flooded a few times, Café Simon reminded me of a chic sweet shop out of Paris. With what seemed like hundreds of eclectic varieties of truffles and gorgeous branding, I spent way too many euros making sure I could try everything, bring back everything, remember everything. But for my sweets and bubbly?
It had to be the Passau gingerbread cake and the sparkling wine with literal gold flake in it. Literal gold flake!
More spiced, denser, and more complex than I remember gingerbread back home being, I feel instantly in love with the flavors and vowed to honor them whenever I could upon my return. AKA…. paleo gingerbread pancakes, y’all. My German ancestors would be, like, so proud……?
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
These paleo gingerbread pancakes are obscenely delicious.
- They taste just like a slice of gingerbread cake, but with no grains, no gluten, no refined sugar, nada.
- On top of that, they’re fluffy and filling, and no one would know they’re paleo.
- In other words? They’re perfect for the holidays, especially Christmas morning, when you need to start the day off with a bit of Christmas magic… But you want to save the gluten belly for later, right?
You’ll absolutely love these paleo gingerbread pancakes, because they taste like a Christmas indulgence but are a way healthier option. Spiced with gingerbread classics and sweetened with molasses, they’re fluffy and rich and I’d eat them every day if I could.
Other Holiday Recipes You’ll Love
- The BEST Croissant French Toast Casserole
- Gluten Free Breakfast Casserole
- Peppermint Frosted Brownies (Paleo, Vegan)
- Keto Peppermint Layer Brownies
- Cookie Butter Creme Brulee
- Turtle Bars (Paleo, Vegan)
- Cranberry Margarita
- Paleo Peppermint Hot Chocolate
- Christmas Confetti Cookies
- Paleo Gluten-Free Crinkle Cookies
- Keto Hot Chocolate
- Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Caramel Sauce
Paleo Gingerbread Pancakes (Grain-Free, Gluten-Free)
Equipment
- Medium bowl
- Large bowl
- 2 whisks
- Large skillet or griddle
- Spatula
- Plate
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
Wet Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Other Ingredients
- coconut oil for frying
- pure maple syrup optional, for serving
- tapioca starch or organic powdered sugar optional, for serving
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet and stir until well incorporated.
- Heat a bit of coconut oil in a skillet or griddle over medium or medium-low heat. Spoon pancake batter on, about ¼ cup per pancake. Batter will be thin but will set upon hitting heat, so pour relatively slowly.
- Cook until bubbles form and burst on the surface. Flip carefully with a spatula and cook through, about another minute. Transfer pancakes to plate and set aside. Repeat until all batter has been cooked.
- Serve with pure maple syrup and a sprinkling of tapioca starch to mimic powdered sugar, or use organic powdered sugar.
- The batter will be thin so make sure your skillet or griddle is well preheated before pouring batter on. Pancakes will form upon hitting the heat but burn easily, so err on the side of a well-preheated medium-low heat. A healthy (PFOA-free) nonstick pan is ideal; I use ceramic frying pans like this.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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As an experienced home cook and a Type 2 diabetic, I was excited to make this recipe; and I followed it to the letter. What a disappointment.
1. The gingerbread flavor is very mild (missing some spice for sure).
2. Pancakes are very grainy (and I used superfine almond flour).
3. The photos show someone eating many of the pancakes layered like a cake. I counted at least ten layers in that “cake.” At 10 net carbs per pancake, and 7 grams of sugar, a person eating the whole thing as pictured would be ingesting 100 net carbs, and 70 grams of sugars. Not keto. And definitely not okay for a diabetic. Will sadly not be making these again.
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe, Victoria! But I appreciate your clear and honest feedback. We’ll definitely keep your notes in mind as we evaluate recipes to update. In the meantime, though, I’d love to help troubleshoot if I can!
1. For the spices, you’re welcome to use more than we did to get the flavor you’re looking for. Make sure, too, that the spices you use aren’t old. They’ll lose their potency over time, making their flavor much less intense than when they were first opened.
2. As far as the grainy texture, that can be a result of the flours not having enough time to really absorb the liquid ingredients. It’s unfortunately a pretty common result with gluten-free recipes, even when using superfine almond flour.
You can try sifting the almond flour, coconut flour, and tapioca starch before mixing together the dry ingredients. That’ll help keep the ingredients from clumping and make them easier to incorporate fully.
Another option would be to blend the pancake batter after combining the dry and wet ingredients together.
3. While we did photograph our pancakes in a tall stack, we didn’t necessarily intend that to be the recommended amount of one serving – though each individual’s preferred serving sizes will vary.
You’re correct that this isn’t a keto recipe – but it’s not intended to be. This recipe contains coconut sugar and molasses which are not keto-compatible ingredients. While we do have keto recipes on our site, our content covers a wide variety of dietary needs.
These pancakes in particular were developed and written to be paleo and gluten free. Unfortunately, those aren’t generally low carb or low sugar ways of eating, and may not necessarily be suitable for someone with specific dietary needs due to diabetes.
Oh my goodness these were AMAZING! I’m a gingerbread year round loving gal and these were just perfect – fluffy and full of flavor. We added dark chocolate chips because gingerbread and chocolate is FANTASTIC!
doubled the recipe for my gingerbread loving family. they were delish. needed to cook kinda low so they would sit long enough to be able to flip without the edges mushing apart.
These looked so good, I made them for breakfast today. The taste was amazing, but there may be a typo on the recipe. When made exactly as listed above, the batter was super runny. I added more almond flour, a quarter cup at a time, until I added a FULL CUP more! (Perhaps the recipe should read “1 1/4 cup almond flour” instead of only “1/4 cup”?) Finally, they were the right consistency. Also, they must be made small, like the same diameter as my spatula, or they would fall apart. But, they were delicious! My advice to those wishing to make these for Christmas, do a practice run before the big day.
Hi Kiki! Thanks for your comment. 1/4 cup almond flour is correct, and adding that much more almond flour is why your pancakes fell apart. I encourage you to try them again as written 🙂 If your batter is very runny, let it sit for a minute or two; the coconut flour will take care of that. Thanks!
These pancakes look yummy….just need a suggestion. I’m in charge of brunch for the family and can I make the batter the day ahead or will it get too thick by morning? Any suggestions would be helpful. Cheers, Cristin
I was actually just thinking about this! Here’s my plan: mix together all the dry ingredients ahead of time and combine all the wet ingredients in a separate jar. In the morning, just add them both to the blender and give a whirl. That’s what we’ll be doing!
Thanks a ton for your idea that is definitely a great idea to be more organized on Xmas.
Happy Holidays,
Cristin
Exactly! I can guarantee we’ll make them at least a couple times over the holiday 😉
YUM! These pancakes look delicious and so easy to make! I have to try them for Christmas ♥
You must! They’re sooo perfect for holiday mornings 🙂