Red Valentine Pancakes with Warm Berry Sauce + Eat Healthy Designs

I am so excited to share this recipe with you! I have teamed up with Eat Healthy Designs to come up with a fun recipe to pair with their new Food Pun Valentines. I have talked about how much I love Eat Healthy Designs before. They are definitely my favorite place to get well designed, good quality, and hilariously cute food pun cards. Just look how fun and adorable these Valentines are!

Funny story about the recipe I am sharing with you. When I first looked at the Valentines they made I decided I was either going to work with the "we make a great pear" or "you are rad" valentines. I have been obsessed with beets lately and when I saw the "you are rad" picture, I thought I would make something vibrantly red/pink with beets. After I conceptualized the recipe and bought my ingredients I realized that the food pun was very obviously referring to radishes (duh) and NOT beets. Oops. What can I say...I have had beets on the brain lately. I was really excited to make red pancakes using beets as the food coloring so I tried to think of how I could still incorporate them with one of the food puns. I looked in my fridge and saw a carton of strawberries and blueberries staring back at me. "You are BERRY awesome" - BINGO!

I made a simple warm berry sauce and some vanilla coconut whipped cream and WOW did it turn out delicious. I have to say, the berry sauce really makes this dish. It gives just the right amount of tart and sweetness to make the recipe complete. I am so glad I stuck with these beet pancakes because they are SO fun and vibrant. Just look at this batter! I am not a big fan of artificial food coloring so anytime I can use real food to create vibrant dishes, it's a win-win. Plus, just knowing that I am getting all those awesome nutrients from beets makes me happy. I am easy to please.

Go check out Eat Healthy Designs and order some Valentines for your special someone. While you are at it, check out all the other awesome products they sell. I just got some of their food pun pencils and love them! I use them at work and my clients get such a kick out of them.

Most importantly, don't forget to show your loved ones how "Berry Awesome" they are by making this fun dish :)

Red Valentine Pancakes with Warm Berry Sauce

|Makes 7-8 pancakes|

Ingredients

Pancakes:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup pureed beets
1 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2-3 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp maple syrup

Warm Berry Sauce:

2 cups mixed berries (frozen or fresh)
Juice of half a lemon (1-2 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp maple syrup + more if added sweetness is desired
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (F). Wrap beets (I used 3 small-medium sized beets) in foil and roast until tender (at least 30 minutes).
Remove from oven, peel the beets, chop them, and puree in a small blender with a 1-2 Tbsp water until smooth.
Combine all pancake ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined.
Scoop 1/4 batter onto lightly greased pan/griddle. Wait about 2 minutes until you see bubbles form. Flip with a spatula and cook for another minute or so until done.
To make the warm berry sauce, combine the berries, lemon juice, maple syrup, and vanilla with 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
Cook, covered, until berries are soft (about 10 minutes). Partially mash the berries using a fork or potato masher. Add additional maple syrup or sugar if the sauce it too tart.
In a small bowl, stir 1 Tbsp water with the cornstarch, then stir the mixture into the berry sauce and continue cooking until thickened (2-3 minutes more).
Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Top pancakes with the warm berry sauce and a dollop of Vanilla Coconut Whipped Cream.
Enjoy!

Notes

*Use a small blender to puree the beets if you can. I originally tried to use my big Vitamix blender but it was difficult to blend. The small blender worked much better since I was only blending a small amount of beets.

*It is very important to combine the cornstarch with water prior to combining with the other sauce ingredients. If you just add the cornstarch alone, there will be clumps of it in the sauce.

xoxo,

Lauren