Brunch Cooking Class with PaleOMG!

Sunday morning, I was privileged to take a cooking class with Juli Bauer from the popular recipe blog, PaleOMG. The savory was class was sold out, with a wait list of 40 people! I was able to grab one of the coveted 16 seats in the Sweet class that was scheduled for 10am-1pm. I anticipated baking cookies but instead we started off with a Paleo pancake recipe, perfect for Sunday brunch.

While I do not eat a Paleo diet, I do like how many of the recipes are gluten free. Again, I do not have a gluten allergy but wheat flour lacks a powerful nutrient punch so I’ve enjoyed cooking with alternatives such as almond flour to boost the nutrients in my recipes. We followed the base from the Lemon Raspberry Paleo pancake recipe available of Julie’s website. We did not add lemon juice or raspberry but instead had the option to add fresh blueberries, my pancake topping of choice.

We used 1/2 cup of coconut flour and 1/2 cup of tapioca flour. I have never baked before using tapioca flour but Julie informed us that it helps create a fluffy pancake when cooking paleo. It is also an excellent binding agent. The recipe also called for 1 tbsp of raw honey, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp of coconut milk (or other milk).

The recipe on the blog calls for almond milk however, as I’ve shared on here, many contain a harmful ingredient called carageenan. If you can’t find one that doesn’t have this ingredient, you can use coconut milk instead like this organic one we used. We actually ran out of coconut milk before my group was able to add it in and instead just used water. The difference in taste was very minimal and our pancakes were actually a little fluffier than the groups that used the canned coconut milk.

The class consisted of mostly CrossFit athletic women that looked like me, ranging from 22 years old to 40 years old. There was one token male who looked about 55+ years old as well. Roomie and I were trying to predict who goes to cooking classes on weekends at 10 am in Boston to learn how to cook paleo and he was right. I thought there would be more men but I guess not.

Overall, the pancakes were pretty delicious. I didn’t use any maple syrup to sweeten the bites that I had and it was fine as is. You could tell something was different but they were really good and I would make them again on my own. The recipe makes about 5 small 3 inch pancakes. Julie made the first batch and then we split up into 3 groups to make our own batches. It was a little awkward having 6 women attend to one mixing bowl but we took turns mixing the batter. The girls in my group were great to talk to and a few even recognized me from being on Tina’s blog last week!

At around 11:30 am Julie wrapped up the pancake portion of class and answered a few questions. I was not alone in thinking the class was going until 1pm but after 90 minutes it was over. It was fun to meet Julie in person as she is bubbly and really interesting to listen to. I did kind of feel bad for some of the people in class who drove from New Hampshire or the North Shore for the class and it was only 1/2 as long as we thought.

One more recipe or something new that was not already on her blog would have been nice to go through but this was my first cooking class at the BCAE. I have little to compare it to. It sounded like Julie landed last night and bought the ingredients first thing Sunday morning. There weren’t any handouts either. The BCAE, the Boston Center for Adult Education is great though. They offer adults classes to learn how to use Photoshop, resume writing, how to sew, cook, really anything and everything! It’s pretty affordable to. I keep meaning to learn how to better my digital photography skills with a class here. I will return but hope this feedback is viewed and used constructively.

Have you ever taken a cooking class before?