Almond flour pancakes with apple, cinnamon & ricotta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, separated
• 1 cup almond flour or meal (250 grams)
• 1 cup smooth ricotta cheese low-fat if preferred (250 grams)
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Stevia extract to taste, if required.  I use Nirvana Organics 100% pure stevia powder and in this recipe I added 5 scoops or 0.30 grams which is equal to 5 teaspoons of sugar in sweetness.

Method:

• Put a frying pan on low-moderate heat to preheat, ready for your batter.
• In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients, then add all remaining ingredients to the meringue and gently fold together until well combined.
• Drop about 2/3 of a cup of mixture into the hot pan and shake it a little to make a thinner pancake.  Alternatively you could add a little milk to the batter to make it runnier or puree the apple instead of grating it.  Turn the pancakes over when the bottom has browned, or after approximately 1-2 minutes, depending on the heat.
• Serve with Maple Ricotta Topping, fresh berries, lemon zest or mint sprigs.

As you can see from the nutritional information summary above, this is not a low-calorie meal.  Whenever you replace a high-carbohydrate flour such as white wheat flour with a high-protein, high-fat flour such as almond flour, the extra density of the almond flour comes with around twice the calories.  It also has around twice the protein, 30 times the fat and less than a third of the carbohydrates and should leave you feeling full after a smaller serving and for a much longer time.