Last Updated on April 26, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
An Apple Pancake is easy to make and a fun breakfast to get the weekend started!
Abby, my younger daughter, has really enjoyed baking lately. She tags recipes in cookbooks and magazines, I jot down the grain-free adaptation if needed, and she spends hours in the kitchen experimenting. The other day she came home from school and said, “Mom, during class I couldn’t stop thinking of all sorts of new recipes to create. Is that normal?” Ha! Looks like we may have another cookbook author on our hands!
One of her favorite series of books is the Williams-Sonoma Children’s Cookbooks. I like these books because they call for real ingredients (no box mixes or packaged foods), they feature plenty of photos and they provide clear instructions. Some of the recipes call for white sugar or white flour, but those ingredients can easily be substituted for less-processed options (I discuss exactly how I adapt recipes in my latest cookbook).
This apple pancake is simple to make and provides a light and sweet treat for breakfast. Add a small drizzle of maple syrup or for a special occasion, powdered sugar for a nice finishing touch.
PrintApple Pancake (Gluten-Free)
Adapted from Williams Sonoma Kids Baking
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6-8
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 2 small apples (we used Gala), peeled, cored and cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar (you can use sucanat, maple sugar or your favorite granulated sweetener)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or ghee, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the batter:
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar ((you can use sucanat, maple sugar or your favorite granulated sweetener)
- 1 cup whole milk (or 3/4 cup canned coconut milk plus 1/4 cup water for Paleo option)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup for drizzling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and the adjust rack to middle position. Place the apples, coconut sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir until combined. Pour the apple mixture into a 10″ cast iron skillet (or buttered 9″ pie plate). Set aside.
- Blend together the eggs, coconut sugar, milk, coconut flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot, cinnamon and vanilla in a blender until smooth. Set aside.
- Place the skillet with the apples in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Carefully pull out the oven rack and quickly pour the pancake batter over the apples. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve with a small drizzle of maple syrup.
How fun that your daughter is getting into cooking! This looks great. 🙂
This looks incredible! Isn’t it great when our kids are interested? Lately my 15 year old is interested in doing the editing on my photos. I’ve been experimenting with gluten-free baking this summer, and having fun with it. My tummy definitely feels better for it, and though I’m not gluten intolerant…I don’t like the effects of eating it.
This looks so delish!! Can’t wait to try it out! Hope your daughter is better. Sure wish I’d known this when my own daughter broke her bottom half of her leg several years ago.
I’m with you – with the Texas heat, I just can’t “go there” on the pumpkin until at least October (but when it’s on, it’s ON!!)…apples are the perfect fall fence-strattler while I wait for the fall weather to arrive. 🙂
Haha! I completely agree! 🙂
Hello
My family and I are really enjoying and look forward to the meal plans. It adds some organization and togetherness to our seemingly busy schedule. Thank you. Ok, so some of the recipes call for stock broth. This past week i ventured to make some homemade. Although it was a success, I made too much. (1 batch for the current week and 1 batch in case future weeks called for some). Q: How do you store your batch of stock? What type of container? Do you freeze? Currently, I have some left over, which came to good use last night, but I was forced to leave the stock (chicken removed) in the huge pot I simmered it with and put it in the extra fridge (day 3, yikes?!) because I could not find a container and didnt want 3 containers of liquid stock. Please assist, lol.
I’m glad you’re finding the meal plans helpful! I store broth in wide-mouth mason jars (they can freeze…just leave a good 1-2″ of space on top), or you can use glass pyrex dishes (http://www.amazon.com/Pyrex-Storage-10-Piece-Clear-Blue/dp/B00005B8K5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=glass+pyrex+freeze). Or, if you don’t have glass containers, just use ziploc, or plastic food containers with pop-on lids (http://www.amazon.com/sets-32oz-plastic-soup-container/dp/B004HV0X7S/ref=sr_1_13?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1409776198&sr=1-13&keywords=plastic+storage+containers). The plastic isn’t my favorite, b/c it’s plastic, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do! 🙂
I freeze my broths in an ice cube trays then store the cube sin a freezer bag- very easy to take out however much you need whenever you need it!
Thank you for the reply! I like the mason jar, so I will look for some quality large ones.
HAPPY EATING 🙂
Just made this for dinner…we love breakfast for dinner here, read the post when i was trying to figure out what to make and I had all the ingredients. Huge hit, my children loved it. Served with bacon. Yum! And have leftovers for breakfast.
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it!
Love this! Sorry to hear Hannah broke her finger. I hope she’s feeling better! Prayers and love, Kelly
Thanks, Kelly. She’s doing fine and quickly on the mend. She was actually very proud of herself because she broke her finger and “didn’t even cry”. Too cute! 🙂
Can you substitute anything for the tapioca flour? I have all the ingredients except that and would
Love to make this.
You could try using arrowroot in place of the tapioca, but I don’t know if the pancake will hold together as well.
Can you substitute anything for the arrowroot flour? I have all the other ingredients. (Is it the same as arrowroot powder, which I do have?)
We are not on a Paleo or gluten-free diet and don’t have arrowroot or tapioca flour. I do have coconut flour, almond flour, whole wheat flour, and whole wheat pastry flour. How can I substitute for this recipe? It looks and sounds AMAZING and I can’t wait to make it! (I just don’t want it to flop due to my bad substitution and have wasted precious, expensive, real ingredients.)
Would you mind explaining why there is both arrowroot and tapioca starch in this recipe? I though they both did the same thing in recipes. Just trying to understand:)
In baking, tapioca gives a bit of chewiness and arrowroot gives a lightness and also can create a more crunchy baked good (I didn’t need crunchiness in this recipe, but if I had used all tapioca it would have been too chewy).
This looks like a great breakfast but we wouldn’t have time to bake in the morning. Have you re-heated it? How did it come out?
Thanks
This looks great! My daughter is loving anything apple these days. We’ll make them this weekend for sure!
This looks delicious! I wondered if it would be possible to make muffins instead of a big pancake and also if I could substitute another kind of fruit? Thanks for the recipe!
I haven’t tried it, but it’s worth giving it a shot. You could try berries in place of the apples.
Looks delicious! Don’t have tapioca flour on hand, would a greater quantity of the other two be ok? Or I do have almond flour to sub? Let me know what you think! Thanks!
I haven’t tested this recipe with alternate flours, so I can’t give a good substitution. Sorry!
I don’t have arrowroot or tapioca flour. I do have coconut flour, almond flour, whole wheat flour, and whole wheat pastry flour. Can I substitute for this recipe?
I haven’t tested this recipe with alternate flours, so I can’t give a good substitution. Sorry!
Hey Megan,
I used 1/4 cup coconut flour, 1/4 cup almond flour, and 1/4 cup of a gluten free flour mix (from TraderJoe’s) and I think it turned out great!
I didn’t have all the flours either but I did have a Gluten Free pancake/waffle mix so I just used that and it turned out great. It puffed up a bit more that what is pictured.
In baking, can you use egg whites instead of the whole egg? Have not had good results with substituting flax/water for eggs, bit thought just using the whites would work better. Any feedback or suggestions?
I just made this for breakfast and the apples browned so I took it out of the oven (25 minutes at 400 degrees) and the pancake part was not cooked. It’s still mushy so I put it back in the oven. 🙁 Do you think the altitude has something to do with it because I’ve had this problem with a few other recipes here? I also used a pie plate instead of a cast iron skillet. Everything was followed exactly.
If you’ve had this issue with other recipes, then yes, it’s probably an altitude issue. I’m not familiar with high altitude cooking, so maybe a friend or neighbor in the area could give you some tips.
We really enjoyed this recipe this morning with our picked apples. I used almond flour instead of tapioca. And used some date paste instead of all the sugar. It was delicious! Thank you!
Just made it ! The dish is easy to make and it is sooo delicious. We ate it with maple syrup, just like suggested. The recipe is definitely a keeper ! Thank you for sharing 😉
I tried this and the flavor was awesome! However, the eggy part didn’t seem to set well and even after more than 30 minutes it was still very mushy but the edges were starting to get too done. Any ideas on how to get this to set properly? I used a 9in pie pan because I didn’t have a 10in skillet (I only have 12in). But I’m thinking of trying the 12in pan but thought it might be too thin then. Also, any thoughts on doubling this recipe and putting it in a 9×13 dish? The single recipe wasn’t enough to feed my family. Thanks!
Hmm…I’m not sure why the pancake didn’t set properly. Did you make any substitutions? I’ve never tried doubling the recipe, but I think it would work well! Maybe lower the oven temp by 25 degrees and bake for longer if trying it in a bigger pan.
Nope, no substitutions. I’ll definitely be trying it again just to see if it was first time error of some sort. Will probably try in my 12 in skillet and/or doubling in a 9×13. Either way, the flavor was fantastic and so grateful for a new recipe! Just hoping to perfect the cooking part. 🙂
Ok, I made this again but in the 12 in cast iron skillet and it still didn’t seem to set properly in the center. It was still kind of wet and gooey. Flavor was great though. Not sure, maybe it’s supposed to be wet in the center?? And I forgot, I did use 1 substitution – I used almond milk instead of cows milk but I wouldn’t think that would make a difference? Maybe next time I’ll try lowering the temp and letting it cook longer like you suggested – because I’m committed to getting this to work, it’s THAT good! 🙂