Chocolate Brownie Spelt Pancakes

These chocolate brownie spelt pancakes sound rich, but they’re a whole grain breakfast with no refined sugar, featuring spelt flour and maple syrup.

This post was created in partnership with One Degree Organic Foods. All opinions are our own. 

When I was young and idealistic, I used to be anti-business. Like anti all business. News about large corporations having unethical labor practices made my teenage self decide that all businesses were decidedly evil. On top of that, businesses tried to sell you things you didn’t want. Again, bad. What I didn’t realize was that business can be a force for good and an agent of positive change. Just like individual people, businesses can have morals and ethics. They can provide valuable products that people want and need, and care about their producers and suppliers. Businesses can be mission-driven. Keep reading for how this relates to chocolate brownie spelt pancakes, and the recipe!

Related: Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

About One Degree Organic Foods

Working in the food industry, Alex and I get the pleasure of interacting with a new wave of businesses that are mission-driven, working to positive change in the food system. One Degree Organics is one of those companies. From the first time I spoke with Sondra, the daughter of the founders, I could see that this was a business based on mission and values. She’s a new mom and at the time our son Larson was just a few months old, so we chatted about the joy of being mamas to little boys.

Sondra shared about her family’s business, and how their goal is to bring food straight from a farm to your table so there’s only one degree of separation between you and person who grew your food (like a farmer’s market). You also can learn the story of the family farmers who grow every ingredient in every product through a QR code on the package. All of One Degree’s products are sprouted, traceable, organic, and non-GMO project verified. An incredible amount of care goes into all of their products (sprouted grain flours, like the flour in these spelt pancakes, cereals, breads, and granolas), and it was easy to see the passion that drives this company forward.

What is spelt flour and why use it?

In looking through their product offerings, I was drawn to the sprouted spelt flour. Why bake with spelt flour? Alex and I love baking and cooking with whole grains. However, we’ve found using whole wheat flour can make things very dense and almost bitter tasting. We did a little research on spelt flour and found that it’s a great alternative for whole grain baking. So we were inspired to use the flour in these spelt pancakes! Here’s some info on spelt flour:

• Spelt flour is a whole grain flour that has a sweet, nutty flavor versus the bitterness of whole wheat flour
• Spelt flour keeps the texture of your baked goods fluffy and soft and won’t weigh them down
• Since spelt flour has a fair amount of gluten-forming proteins, it works well as an all-purpose flour substitute in baking. You can use up to 100% in less-structured baked goods like these pancakes (and 50% in muffins and breads). Compare this to the substitution ratio for whole wheat flour, which is typically 25%.
• The spelt flour we worked with here is a sprouted spelt flour. Sprouted flours are less processed than the typical flour, have increased nutritional benefits, and are more easily digestible.

How to make spelt pancakes

And now, the recipe. To use this whole grain flour, we worked up a healthy pancake recipe: these spelt pancakes made with 100% spelt flour. We wanted vegan pancakes to be something special, so we settled on a chocolate brownie spelt pancakes! They’re lightly sweet, made with maple syrup and cocoa powder. The resulting pancakes were so chewy and fugdy that we settled on the name “chocolate brownie”, though of course they’re not nearly as sweet as a brownie! Make sure to drizzle with maple syrup, since it adds a final twinge of sweetness. And the spelt flour? It adds a subtle, nutty flavor to these spelt pancakes that we loved. Spelt flour is fantastic for baking with whole grains since it can be subbed 50% to 100%, and has added nutritional value.

For the topping of these spelt pancakes, we added another specialty: coconut bacon. It’s simple to whip up directly before the pancakes, or make it a few days before and store it in the freezer. The smoky, salty, crunchy topping against the chewy pancakes is spot-on: but they’re nearly as good simply dotted with fresh raspberries and drizzled with maple syrup.

So that’s mission-based business at it’s finest. You can look for One Degree Organics products in a store near you. Also, they’ve got lovely, creative Instagram feed.

Looking for a healthy pancake recipe?

If you’re looking for a healthy pancake recipe, here are a few more to options:

• Lemon Poppy Seed Oat Pancakes {Gluten-free}
• Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Mascarpone {Gluten-free}
• Banana Pancakes (these would work well with spelt flour!)

Looking for vegan breakfast ideas?

These brownie spelt pancakes are a delicious vegan breakfast idea. Here are a few more vegan breakfast ideas:

• Turmeric Vegan Blueberry Muffins
• Vegan Zucchini Bread
• Acai Bowl Recipe
• Vegan Banana French Toast
• Toast with almond butter and Chai Tart Cherry Jam or Cranberry Jam
• Tart Cherry Cardamom Baked Oatmeal
• Tofu Scramble Recipe with Black Beans

This spelt pancakes recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, naturally sweet, and refined sugar-free.

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