My sister is married to a wonderful Irish fella, and consequently has become somewhat of an expert at baking Irish soda bread. It is moist, sweet and utterly divine, but sadly wheat doesn’t agree with me and gives me bloating and intestinal painL
Traditionally, Christmas breakfast in our house is scrambled eggs & chives with soda bread and smoked salmon (again beautifully prepared by my sis who has been crowned the ‘Queen of scrambled eggs’ by the family).
Not wanting to miss out on the fantastic smoked salmon that had been brought all the way from Youghal in Ireland, I needed a back-up plan. So I travelled to our Christmas cottage in Devon fully prepared, with thermals and buckwheat flour in my luggage!
Whilst Soph baked & cracked the eggs, I got to work whipping up these gluten-free Blinis. I’d never made them before, but I have to say, these nutty little Russian pancakes went down a treat whilst we watched our cheeky little boys rip open their gifts from SantaJ
As a wheat-free family, these have since become our handy bite-sized ‘toast’ alternatives – which work well with savoury (avocado, egg, goat’s cheese etc) or sweet toppings (caramelized bananas and almond butter or coconut yoghurt and mashed raspberries).
If wheat plays havoc with your digestion, I highly recommend you give these a whirl….
Ingredients:
1 cup (130g) of buckwheat flour
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 tsp free from gluten baking powder
3/4 cup cow’s milk, nut milk or hemp milk
2 tbsp melted butter or coconut oil
Butter or olive oil for the pancake pan (if it is a non-stick pancake pan you will not require any additional fat)
For the topping:
Cream cheese
Smoked salmon
Finely sliced red onion
Capers
Lemon or lime.
Freshly ground pepper
Method:
1. Place the buckwheat flour, a pinch of salt and the baking powder in to a large bowl and mix.
2. Crack the eggs into the flour and mix thoroughly.
3. Melt the butter or coconut oil in a small saucepan.
4. Slowly whisk the milk into the flour mixture and then add the melted butter or coconut oil and mix thoroughly into a smooth silky batter.
5. Place a pancake pan or sauté pan over a medium heat to warm, and then add tablespoon-sized rounds of batter on to the pan (to form small discs)
6. Cook on medium heat until golden brown on the underside and bubbles appear in the top layer of batter (approx. 2 minutes). Flip the blinis and then cook until golden brown on the second side. Remove on to a plate and cool. Repeat until all the batter has been cooked (this should make approximately 24 Blinis)
7. Top with cream cheese (or sour cream), smoked salmon, capers, thin slices of red onion, a squeeze of lemon and some freshly ground pepper, and ENJOY!