Valentine's Day themed Gourmet Pancake Party!

There’s something romantic about brunch for me.

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the thought of being served breakfast in bed like in the movies. Does that even happen in real life?! No, don’t answer that because if you write a comment below saying, “Oh my husband/ boyfriend/ girlfriend/ fiancee/ mom/ stranger I met on the street/ who-knows-who-else brings me breakfast in bed every morning with a huge mimosa with real champagne and strawberries he/she freshly picked sticking out of it,” I might scream or die or throw up or do all of them at once.

So please, save me the trouble…

Anyway… the more likely reason I find brunch romantic is probably most likely because the way to my heart is through my stomach and the best way to get on my good side is to wake me with a yummy, scrumptious breakfast.

Yep… always thinking about food (that’s what my fiance says about me and yes, he’s right)!

So I thought the most adorable thing ever for Valentine’s Day, whether you’re celebrating yourself, with friends, with your kids, with your significant other is to have a Valentine’s Day pancake party!!

Two good reasons why this is the best idea I ever had:

1. Pancakes are freaking delicious. I mean, really. Who doesn’t love them?

NOTE: If you don’t love them you’re either the person above who’s got the daily mimosas and strawberries or no one has ever made you some bangin’ gourmet pancakes!

2. They’re easy. Simple. So easy to make and so easy to make them look and taste gourmet. And they’re easy to make gourmet AND allergy and gluten free. Read my lips. Best.breakfast.brunch.ever.

And if you don’t like Valentine’s Day, this is a simple way to just have fun! My fiance and I don’t really celebrate much on the over-popularized Hallmark holiday of Valentine’s Day. We don’t do the gifts (waste of $$), we don’t do the reservations (too high risk of cross contamination and I hate lines and waiting), and we just want to spend the day together. So he makes me breakfast and I make a nice dinner.

The best thing about doing a pancake breakfast is that not only is is very inexpensive, yet a really nice way to celebrate, but you really don’t have to go all out mixing and matching and going crazy when you’re making pancakes. Just because they’re called “Gourmet” doesn’t mean you have to spend hours in the kitchen!

I actually used my new fav gluten free, allergy free pancake batter from Better Batter.

If you don’t know who they are or what their batter is like, you need to go check it out. No more Bisquick no more messing with thousands of different flours. These are good. They also have seasoned flours for breading and frying (soo freaking good and I’ll tell you about that another time) and cake and brownie mix.

Now to the pics…. I know you want to see these. I made them all with Better Batter and just kind of added my own ingredients. They turned out fantastic and I really spend little time in the kitchen.

Of course, I made pretty shapes and letters and such for Vday, but you dont’ have to get all crazy like that!

All of these pancakes are:

blueberry lemon pancakes Its a bird.. its a plane... its a Valentines Day Gourmet Pancake Party!

chocolate pancakes Its a bird.. its a plane... its a Valentines Day Gourmet Pancake Party!

I had a ton of different flavors, and again, I made these all in one morning in less than an hour, probably in less than half an hour if you mix them right (yknow if you put a little batter in one bowl, a little batter in another for a diff flavor, and so forth)!

From top to bottom I had:

Banana Pancakes – these work best if you make the batter first, then spoon into your griddle or pan and THEN place banana coins inside. And then top with extra banana yum!
Blueberry Lemon Pancakes – I made the pancakes as per the Better Batter recipe (whatever the lowest amount they have on the back that you can make.. I believe it was with 1c of mix) then squeezed in half a fresh lemon and added lots of frozen blueberries.
Chocolate Cinnamon – Better Batter mix, cocoa powder (a few tbsp), 1tbsp vanilla agave syrup, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I topped with Enjoy Life Mega Chunk chocolate chips (just a few) and of course, a little powdered sugar
And then were were my “LOVE” pancakes. The “L” was your basic Better Batter recipe with a few chocolate chips inside, the O and V were the blueberry and chocolate recipes respectively, and then the E I just made regular Better Batter Pancakes and added a little red food coloring!

There are so many possibilities and options for changes. I had so much fun making these and then even more fun eating them!

They were delicious, simple, and yes, all of them were completely allergy free! I use either maple syrup (pure maple syrup) to top them or Wholesome Sweeteners has some fab Agaves that are super yummy and different flavored.

Check out Better Batter for yourself to find out more about how you can use their delicious mixes to make fabulous allergy free and gluten free foods!

Better Batter website: www.betterbatter.org
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What’s your favorite pancake flavor? I’d love to hear it below! Mine’s banana pancakes with chopped walnuts and a little ground flax or chia seed! YUM!

signature Its a bird.. its a plane... its a Valentines Day Gourmet Pancake Party!