Cherries and vanilla go together like Wayland Flowers and Madame. When cherries are in season, there's no good reason not to make these as often as possible. I've got this listed under the breakfast section but I can assure you there are few finer dinners than a warm stack of pancakes.

Makes 6 pancakes

1/2 cup pitted and diced fresh cherries (I use Bing)

1 1/2 cups flour

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups almond or soy milk

2 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)

1 Tbsp ground flax seed

2 Tbsp oil

2 tsp vanilla (I prefer vanilla paste for this but vanilla extract will do in a pinch)

Pit and dice the cherries and set aside.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. 

In a medium bowl combine your vinegar and almond or soy milk to make vegan buttermilk. Stir and let it sit a minute.

Add the flax seed to the milk and whisk it together for about a minute. 

Add the oil and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently start to combine with a spoon or spatula. After about 10 strokes STOP and add in the cherries. Continue to mix for a final 10 strokes until the batter is just combined.  Do not over-mix your batter. It should only take no more than 20 strokes to combine and you want to leave some clumps of flour. Adding the cherries halfway through the process will save you from having gummy pancakes.

Allow the batter to rest for about 10 minutes before you start to cook your pancakes. While the batter is resting you can start to clean up the mess you've made and begin to preheat a griddle or skillet. You can test your griddle to see if it's hot enough by flicking a few drops of water on it. If they immediately sizzle and evaporate, you should be good to go. If you're super fancy, use a laser thermometer and check the surface temperature. 375 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. 

Lightly grease the griddle and pour the batter onto it forming pancakes that are roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Once you see the edges of the pancake start to look dry and you see some bubbles coming up to the top, flip the pancake and cook the other side until it's golden brown.

As you make the pancakes keep them warm in a low temperature oven.

Serve them with vegan margarine and real maple syrup. You can also serve them with a dollop of whipped coconut cream or vegan whipped cream.

Nutritional information: Per pancake 184 cal., 3.85 g protein, 9.5 g fat