Almond Pancakes with Blood Orange Syrup and Pistachios

It's National Pancake Day. Who knew? I found this list that shows you all the food days each month of the year. There is practically one for every day of the year. Who knew Peach Melba day existed? Or a Roast Leg Of Lamb day. That seems completely unnecessary. Turns out my birthday is National Brisket Day. Boooooo! I hereby change it to National Chocolate Peanut Butter day.
Anyways back to the subject at hand. Had I known about this fake holiday, I probably wouldn't have made waffles for dinner last night and pancakes for dinner tonight. My husband isn't complaining that's for sure. These moist, fluffy pancakes are gluten free with the help of almond meal and some gluten free flour. Scented with blood orange zest, segments and orange maple syrup, these are a perfect meal to celebrate such a random "national" holiday in the middle of winter.

more fancy pancakes 
Gluten Free Brownie Pancakes
Buckwheat Pancakes with Candied Orange Cream & Blackberry Compote
Granola Pancakes with Cinnamon Butter & Bruleed Bananas
Pumpkin Pancakes with Hazelnut Syrup

Gluten free almond and blood orange pancakes topped with fresh fruit, blood orange syrup and crunchy toasted pistachios.

Almond Pancakes
yields 8 pancakes
1 cup almond milk
2 tbl melted coconut oil or canola, plus more for cooking
2 tbl maple syrup
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour, baking blend (baking blends have leaveners already in them)
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest and segments from 1 blood orange
3 tbl toasted pistachios, roughly chopped

Combine the milk, oil, maple syrup and vinegar and set aside.
Combine the flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt and zest in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Grease a griddle or saute pan with a little oil and ladle 1/4 cups of batter for each pancake. Cook until golden brown and fluffy.
Serve with blood orange syrup, pistachios and orange segments.

Blood Orange Syrup
1/2 cup blood orange juice (from 2 blood oranges)
1/2 cup maple syrup
pinch of sea salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. The syrup will thicken a lot once it is completely cool or skip the cooling and serve warm.

Marcona Almond Bark with Blood Orange and Sea Salt

If you have never tried Marcona almonds before then you have not truly ever experienced life. Yeah, I said it! Nowadays you can find them readily at specialty food stores but they come with a hefty price. I mean that literally because they run about $15 a pound. Then again, time and time over I have made pesto with pine nuts and those suckers are $23/lb in the bulk section of my grocery store.
But back to Marcona's!
These almonds are top nut in my opinion. They are a sweeter variety from Spain that are skinned then DEEP FRIED and heavily salted. They taste as good as they sound. Because of  their sweet/salty taste, they pair amazingly with desserts and even better with chocolate in particular.

This bark reminds me of those chocolate oranges sold during the holidays but with far better flavor and depth. If you can't find blood oranges, substitute tangerines or satsuma's.

Marcona Almond Bark
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
2 tbl water
1 tbl earth balance vegan butter
1 1/2 cups fried marcona almonds, coarsely chopped
1 lb 65% dark chocolate
zest of 1/2 blood orange
fleur de sel or coarse sea salt

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small pot, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes until the sugar caramelizes into a dark amber. Swirl the pot to move the sugar around, do not stir.
Remove from heat and add in the butter. Swirl to melt then add in the almonds. Pour out onto the baking sheet in a thin layer and let cool to firm up. Break into pieces and set 1/4th of the candied almonds aside.
Line your baking sheet with new parchment paper.
Microwave the chocolate, 30 seconds at a time for 1/2-2 minutes. Stir for 20 seconds in between. Once the chocolate has melted 80% stop heating and stir to allow the residual heat of the chocolate melt any remaining. Add the zest and 3/4ths of the almonds.
Pour onto a baking sheet and top with remaining almonds and a sprinkling of sea salt. Chill for 1 hour or until set and break apart into pieces.