Apple Pancakes | Baby-led Weaning | Toddlers | Dairy free Gluten free

Easy to make gluten and dairy free pancakes for babies and toddlers. They are healthy, delicious and contains no leavening agents.

Apple pancakes are great finger foods for baby lead weaning or toddlers. Pancakes are the simple snack or breakfast option that I often whip for son. I experiment quite a lot with different wholegrain flours and fruits to make nutritious pancakes for my child.

I made these pancakes for the first time when my son was 1 year old and the memory of how he gobbled these is still so fresh in my mind. 🙂

The good part about these apple pancakes, which makes it great for babies and toddlers is that, it doesn’t contain any leavening agents.

More About Apple Pancakes

These pancakes are very simple to make. You can literally whip these in 15 minutes with minimal ingredients. All you need is rolled oats, apple and an egg.

These pancakes does not require any milk. Moisture from apple and egg will be enough to get the right batter consistency. I have added pure vanilla extract and cinnamon for extra flavour.

The pancakes are dense and contain enough protein and nutrition to keep your child full for 2-3 hours.

If you don’t have rolled oats, you can use wholewheat flour too or any other flour of your choice. I can bet your toddler won’t refuse this for breakfast.

Ingredients You Will Need

1. Fresh Apple: Any variety of fresh apple will do. Just make sure the apple is ripe and sweet. I would often go for old apples which have lost their crunch as they are naturally more sweet and also the fact that no one in my house likes to eat those. 😀

2. Egg: Since these pancakes are dairy free and there has been no leavening agent added to it, egg is important to add for that much needed body and texture.

3. Rolled Oats: Oats add fibre and much needed complex carbohydrates. However, you can use any gluten free flour. Personally, I like the combination of oats and apples. If gluten is not a concern, you can totally use wholewheat flour too or a mix of rolled oats and wholewheat flour.

4. Butter/Oil for cooking

5. Pure Vanilla Extract and Cinnamon: You can choose to add extra flavour in the pancakes. Cinnamon goes great with apples. However, you can totally skip it as well.

How to Make Apple Pancakes

For Batter

1. Peel the apple and grate it in a bowl.

2. Crack an egg straight in a bowl or you can use a separate bowl and lightly whisk it first and then add to apple. Mix both well.

3. Tip in cinnamon and pure vanilla extract. Mix again.

4. Now add rolled oats flour and some rolled oats grains. Adding the grains is optional. I like to keep a bite and texture of rolled oats in pancakes. You can grind it if you want.

5. Mix till everything incorporates. Batter consistency should be thick.

For Cooking

6. Heat a nonstick to a medium heat. Brush it with some butter or oil. Pour 1 scoop or roughly 1/4th cup batter.

Note: I would prefer to make these pancakes in a non-stick pan instead of cast iron. It makes the handling easier. Sometimes gluten free pancakes with no leavening agents tend to stick to cast iron pan making a huge mess.

7. Cook till top sets and edges start to leave the pan. Takes roughly 2 minutes. Gently flip and cook the other side till golden brown. Cook the remaining batter similarly.

How to serve pancakes?

Babies 6-9 months old: Cut pancakes vertically in the size of your index finger. It is easier for babies to grasp.

Babies 9months+: You can cut the pancake to small bite size pieces.

Toddlers: Serve the same way as you would serve an adult. You can also smear pancakes with some nut butter fold them and make a little pancake sandwich.

Variations

1. You can swap apple with any other fruit of your choice like peach, strawberry or mango.
2. You can also experiment with different flours- wholewheat flour or different millet flour.
3. You can also substitute fruit with a vegetable like carrot or zucchini.

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