Coconut Pancakes

This was a fun quarantine challenge. My friend Hannah loved the Trader Joe's coconut pancake mix and was sad it got discontinued, so Michael and I took it upon ourselves to recreate it from scratch! We think ours turned out with even better texture than from a box.

Coconut Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

·   2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

·   ¼ cup sugar

·   1 teaspoon baking soda

·   2 teaspoons baking powder

·   ½ teaspoon salt

·   1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted per instructions below
*It’s also possible to toast sweetened coconut, but it requires a lower temperature to prevent the sugar from caramelizing, so it takes longer.

·   2 eggs, beaten

·   2 ½ cup buttermilk (or just whole milk with ½ teaspoon of lemon juice)

*For a more coconut-y flavor, can replace up to 1 ½ cup of the buttermilk with coconut milk, but this will make the pancakes more dense.

·   2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted to liquid

·   Butter for cooking surface

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      Toast the shredded coconut in a dry frying pan over medium heat, stirring constantly. When you smell the coconut aroma, it’s done, even if not all the coconut has browned.

2.      Lightly mix all dry ingredients together.

3.      Add all wet ingredients to the beaten egg and combine well.

4.      Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until incorporated. Don't over-mix!

5.      Warm a skillet or griddle to medium, then add a pat of butter to coat pan.

6.      Drop ¼ cup rounds of batter and let cook until bubbles begin to pop in center of pancake, about 1-2 minutes for first pancake. Flip pancake and cook for an additional minute or so until golden brown.

7.      Note that subsequent pancakes will cook a lot faster than the first one. Test cook surface and temperature, and adjust cook time accordingly.