Being lactose intolerant meant I missed out on many festive treats over Christmas, so these American pancakes topped with pomegranate and blueberries were a welcome dairy-free indulgence.
Discovering a new dairy-free kitchen product felt like a small celebration — perfect for holiday cooking.
Flora Cuisine is a versatile blend of rapeseed, linseed and sunflower oils that proved invaluable in my kitchen over Christmas. It’s a great alternative to butter for stovetop cooking and baking — as a quick rule, replace 100g of butter with 110ml of Flora Cuisine in most recipes. I used it across several dishes: stir-fries, perfectly crisp roast potatoes and parsnips, sautéed vegetables for soups and casseroles, greasing cake tins, and, of course, for making these fluffy pancakes.
The bottle lives in the fridge, which can feel odd if you’re used to storing cooking oils by the hob. When chilled, the oil is thicker and slightly opaque; once it warms in the pan it becomes clear and more fluid — that’s the cue it’s ready for frying. Using a neutral-flavoured oil like this keeps the pancakes light without adding a heavy dairy taste.
I adapted this American pancake recipe from the Flora website and was pleased with how light and springy the results were. They’re ideal for a weekend brunch, a healthy-ish dessert option, or a crowd-pleasing plate for friends and family. These pancakes sit comfortably in the “treat” category but don’t feel overly indulgent, especially when topped with fresh berries and pomegranate seeds for brightness and texture. Be prepared to share — they disappear fast!
The combination of warm, slightly broken-down berries with fresh fruit makes a vibrant topping: cook down half the blueberries with half the pomegranate seeds to release their juices and fold the remaining fresh berries through before serving. This gives you both a syrupy sauce and bursts of fresh fruit in every mouthful. The pancakes themselves are simple: self-raising flour, a little baking powder and salt, an egg and soya milk to keep the batter dairy-free. A small amount of Flora Cuisine in the pan yields an even, golden brown surface without the taste of butter.
These dairy-free American pancakes are easy to scale up for a crowd and work well with seasonal fruit. If you prefer a sweeter topping, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup complements the tart pomegranate nicely, but the cooked berries are often sweet enough on their own. For a slightly different texture, try folding a few whole blueberries into the batter before cooking.
-
1
tub of blueberries -
1
pomegranate
-
125
g
self raising flour -
2
teaspoon
baking powder -
1/4
teaspoon
salt -
1
egg -
250
ml
soya milk -
2
tablespoon
Flora Cuisine
-
Tip half of the blueberries and half of the pomegranate seeds into a pan and heat gently. Use a fork or potato masher to squash them down a little, allowing the juices to run from the berries. You can add a little sugar or honey at this stage if you are very sweet toothed, but really there is no need.
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Sift all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
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Pop the wet ingredients into a jug and whisk together.
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Pour into the dry ingredients and mix just until there are no dry bits of flour showing – it’ll look really quite lumpy, but that’s perfect.
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Heat frying pan & a small amount of Flora Cuisine.
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Once the oil is hot, pour in a ladle of the mixture, gently tease out the edges of the mix to make it round and let cook for about 2 minutes, or until there are bubbles on top and the edges are dry.
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Flip over and let the second side cook for around 2 more minutes.
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Pile the pancakes up on warm plates. Stir the fresh berries into the cooked berries and top the pancakes generously.
Many thanks to Flora for sponsoring this post — as always, all opinions are my own.