Pancake Pleasures: Low-Cal Loving

As you'll have seen on my latest Instagram post one of my favourite hobbies at the moment is experimenting with new recipes and foods! I recently purchased Eat Well Everyday by Alice Liveing and Strong by Zanna Van Dijk. Also celebrating International Women's Day this week I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get it out there how inspired I am by fellow female bloggers who have turned not only their own lives around- but also transformed the lives of others and been influential on their journey of healthy living.

Last week we all celebrated Pancake Day (with a little too much pleasure I might add)- and I wanted to throw together a cheap, low-calorie yet still treatworthy selection of pancake variations for Shrove Tuesday. We all love a delicious dessert to satisfy our sweet tooth on a socially acceptable, annual occasion! Although it may not look it, I sought out some of the lowest calorie pancake varieties and used some key alternative ingredients in my syrups and sauces that make it far less fatty yet delicious as it looks!

Official “Pancake Day” as its universally known actually fell on the Tuesday, which is my busiest day of the week ordinarily. I’m out straight away early in the morning and not back till late at night- by which point I wouldn’t be craving a stodgy stack of pancakes to reign in the evening.

So doing it a day earlier meant that when I did my Sainsbury’s shop I got a better pick of a selection of the products from the themed shelves and wasn't in a rush when preparing them. I opted to purchase my pancakes and not make my own this year just to change it up a bit, plus they’re quick and guaranteed to taste great! The emphasis really is on the healthy swaps I made with my toppings, which for me was the highlight of the eating experience.

Shopping List:


Pancakes:
Scotch Pancakes (small) (70cals each) x4
Bakeaway Pancakes (large) (130cals each) x2


Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:
Food Thoughts Fairtrade Organic Cocoa (152cals per 50g)
Clarks Organic Agave Alternative to Sugar Syrup (35cals per 25ml)
Alpro Soya Single Cream Light Alternative (200cals per carton)

Simple but effective ingredients

Syrups:
(Although I bought these in preparation, I didn’t really use them in the recipe but I’ll list them here anyway)
Sainsbury’s Own Chocolate Sauce (75cals per 2tbsp)
Lyle’s Golden Syrup Squeezy Bottle (30cals in 10g)
Askey’s Strawberry Dessert Sauce(32cals in 10g)

The essential ingredients

I also bought a Basics Red Berry Mix from Sainsbury's consisting of blackberries, strawberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants. I used around 200g (half the packet) of them, coming in at 70cals.

I defrosted the frozen berries overnight, lining the bowl I placed them in with kitchen roll to absorb the juices.

Berry bowl: Blackcurrants, redcurrants, strawberries and blackberries

I then prepared the chocolate spread, pouring around 200ml of Alpro Soya single light alternative cream into a mixing bowl, I continued stirring continuously whilst adding Clarks Agave Alternative to Sugar Syrup.

The alternative Agave syrup is a type of nectar that works
as a natural sweetener, with less calories than sugar or honey

To thicken the mix I added 12g of gelatin and- when the granules started to dissolve, added Cocoa powder bit by bit until the mixture felt thicker and gunky. 

It's here the fun begins!

You might need to add some more Agave as the cocoa powder is organic and naturally unsweetened in its raw state. 

Mmm...a melt-in-the-mouth, creamy chocolate mix

Spoon the mixture into a plastic container and refrigerate overnight to set.

Layers and layers of chocolatey cream

I used some of the leftover chocolate sauce to coat the frozen berries and topped the chocolate spread coating with these before i wrapped up the large pancakes.

I alternated with lemon juice, golden syrup, strawberry dessert sauce and chocolate spread and berries to line my pancake stack and alternatively fill my larger, wrapped pancakes.

Pancake Pile

Building the Scotch stack

I made plenty to go round throughout the week to keep me going before I finally finished the supreme stack! Here they are looking photogenic and fulfilling on my Instagram below:

Pre-Pancake Day post as I knew I wouldn't have time to throw this together tomorrow morning!🥞 After a pathetic attempt at attacking these I was literally full after the first bite!🥄 As those of you that know me will expect, I didn't get even a quarter of the way through, but what I did manage was well worth it and fun to make😋 Although it still looks as delicious as any ordinary full fat pancake recipe and is still a treat, I made it with lighter and cheaper alternative ingredients (but still didn't come any nearer to finishing it) The recipe on how I made my sauces and what ingredients I used will be on http://putting0ntheglitz.blogspot.co.uk/ very soon H x #pancakes #pancakeday #shrovetuesday #treat #food #foodporn #cooking #breakfast #dessert #foodblogger #berries #pancakestack #maplesyrup #chocolatesyrup #lemonjuice #foodphotography

A post shared by H A R R I E T | B O N D 👸 (@harrietbond_) on Feb 27, 2017 at 6:17am PST

Yes, it did take me until ten o clock the following night to finally pick apart and finish my pancakes but it was well worth it!🥞

Breakfast Big H style

Expect many more recipes to come from my new health and fitness books, I'm particularly looking forward to preparing frittatas, Shakshuka, protein power balls, pecan blondies, blueberry loaves, chocolate chia smoothies and beetroot crisps!

H x