Light and Fluffy Gluten-Free Pancakes! (no lie, light & fluffy!)

Light and fluffy gluten-free bread products - impossible, right?  WRONG!  With enough determination and a lot of trial & error you CAN achieve light, fluffy, super-tasty, gluten-free yummies!  One word of warning, don't taste the batter and decide that it's going to be nasty.  Gluten-free flour blends are often made from beans, which means your batter is going to taste like - well, nasty bean sauce.  This recipe is the result of reading many, many pancake recipes and taking what I thought would work best.

See that??  Actual fluff bubbles!! ----->

1 1/3 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Mix
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4-1/2 tsp of Saigon cinnamon (you can use regular, but I truly believe that Saigon cinnamon is the best seasoning ever made)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves (or less, a little clove goes a long, long way!)
dash of Stevia
2 eggs (room temperature is always best when using eggs to bake - if you forget to let them warm up put the needed amount of eggs in a container of hot tap water for a few minutes)
1/2 Cup Milk (ANY kind of milk - dairy, nut, soy... Doesn't matter)
2 Tbsp Sunflower Oil (a light, extra virgin olive would work as well)
1 tsp Pure Almond extract
1 tsp Pure Vanilla or Chocolate extract
(you can use any combination of extracts you choose, I find that almond mixes well with all flavors and almond kicks that bean smell and taste completely out)


Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and soda, salt, stevia and seasonings) in main mixing bowl, set aside.

In separate bowl whisk together liquids (eggs, milk, oil, extracts) till completely blended.  Using whisk pour liquids into dry ingredients and mix till smooth.  Allow mixture to sit for a few minutes while griddle heats (I use a cast iron griddle skillet - works like a champ) then ladle apx 1/3 cup of batter at a time on to hot griddle.  Flip once it starts to bubble and the edges are set.

This batter is very close to traditional pancake batter, possibly even a touch thinner.  All the GF pancakes I've tinkered with until this one have been VERY thick and goopy, and frankly were so dense I could only eat 1-2 small bites.  These are not too dense and even tho the batter is slightly thinner than traditional batter it is not runny at all - just make them, you'll understand. =)

The easiest way to ruin pancakes is to have the heat too high when cooking.  If you use cast iron, like I do, remember that the iron will retain heat and get hotter the longer you cook so after the first pancake is done you'll need to turn the heat down.  By the time I pour the 3rd one I usually have the heat all the way down to the lowest setting.  Also, as with anything you're going to bake, NEVER mix in anything but glass or stainless steel bowls.  Plastic bowls absorb all sorts of things that can cause your batter to not come out as is should.