(Vegan) Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

Meeker gave me a pineapple for Valentine’s Day.

(He also gave me a gift card for $25 to my favorite grocery store. He told me I was forbidden to buy food for anyone but myself with it.)

I love that boy.

So, this pineapple had been sitting on my counter getting all nice and ripe for a few days. It was starting to smell so good I could hardly stand it.

Then I walked out to the mailbox on Thursday and saw that my latest issue of bon appetite had arrived.

The FIRST recipe I opened it to was for pineapple upside down pancakes.

If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.

I woke up on Sunday morning so darn excited to try the recipe. I ran down the stairs dragging Baby A behind me. Then I realized that we were out of eggs. And brown sugar. And I don’t think we’ve ever had a bottle of rum just chilling in the cupboards (or freezer? where does one keep rum?). All of those things seemed pretty essential to the bon appetite recipe, dang it.

So, I improvised.

Which is pretty much my favorite thing to do in the kitchen, so I was giddy. Maybe it was the half of a pineapple and cup of coffee I was fueling myself with…but I was definitely excited.

I took a bite and almost fell out of my chair. Even without the rum-brown-sugar-syrup that it called for…oh.my.goodness.

You guys. You must. MUST.

adapted from Bon Appetite

PRINT Recipe

makes 4 small pancakes

PINEAPPLE

• 1 T coconut oil
• dash of cinnamon
• 4 pineapple rings*

PANCAKES

• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1/2 t baking soda
• pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 c almond milk
• 2 water + 1 T ground flax seed (this is your egg)
• 1 T coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 t vanilla

* To make the pineapple rings, I cut off the outside, sliced it into 1/2 inch slices, then used the top of a baby bottle to push out the core in the center. You could use a knife, cookie cutter, shot glass…whatever works.

Melt the coconut oil with the cinnamon in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pineapple slices and  and cook until they start to brown. Set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients for the pancakes in two separate bowls, then add the dry to the wet and mix until just combined.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Set a wire rack on a baking sheet. Then heat a pan or griddle over medium high heat and spay with non-stick spray. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form on top. Then place a pineapple ring on each pancake. Flip and cook until pancake is turning brown, about 2 minutes.

Then put each pancake on the wire rack + baking sheet and put it in the oven for about 6-7 minutes to finish cooking.

Don’t worry, Punky didn’t get a bite. (After taking this picture) I grabbed Baby A’s hand and ate that bite myself. Dog’s don’t deserve food this good.