Chef Linda Soper-Kolton Compassionate Cuisine Catskill Animal Sanctuary Vegan Chef

Baking With Trupo Treats: Vegan Chunky‌ ‌Monkey‌ ‌Pancakes‌ ‌with‌ ‌Catskill‌ ‌Animal‌ ‌Sanctuary’s‌ ‌Chef‌ ‌Linda‌

It’s no secret that we love Catskill Animal Sanctuary

It’s not just the animal residents who call the sanctuary home that we love though. We’re big fans of the sanctuary’s Compassionate Cuisine vegan cooking program!

Compassionate Cuisine focuses on the power of plant-based nutrition while also empowering foodies to make kind choices. The biggest? Saying no to factory farming, and cruelly-obtained animal products. 

Compassionate Cuisine encourages animal lovers to rethink what they put on their plates and gives them the confidence to tackle creating their favorite foods with products that don’t cause harm or suffering to animals.

Helmed by Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s in-house award-winning chef, Chef Linda Soper-Kolton, Compassionate Cuisine (also on Instagram as Add Love Stir)  makes vegan baking and cooking accessible, affordable, easy, and fun! 

Compassionate Cuisine Catskill Animal Sanctuary Vegan Sushi RollsCompassionate Cuisine Sweet Potato Miso Vegan Sushi Rolls

 

So when our signature vegan milk chocolate Trupo Treats found their way into a stack of fluffy, chocolatey, and nutty pancakes whipped up by Chef Linda and Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s Communications & Retail Coordinator Heather Decker, we were instantly smitten! 


Food should be a celebration, it should be joyful,” says Chef Linda. “Vegan food is love!”


After successfully running her own Bridgeport, Connecticut-based vegan cafe Green Gourmet To Go for two years, she realized teaching vegan cooking was truly where her passion lay. Even though opening Green Gourmet To Go was one of her life dreams, she found herself teaching classes about healthy, vegan eating after closing the cafe at night.

“I realized that my interest in teaching was where I could help make an impact. I am big on teaching people that nourishing food can also be delicious, creative, and fun,” she continues.

As luck would have it, Chef Linda was invited to CAS to be the guest chef for a season in 2012. She hasn’t left since.

Compassionate Cuisine Catskill Animal Sanctuary Sweet Potato ToastVegan Sweet Potato Toast 

“When you cook and eat vegan, there is hope, possibility, and peace in every mouthful,” says Chef Linda. “I want those things to flow into how people approach cooking.” 


 

So why pancakes? 

Chef Linda doesn’t miss a beat.

“Making pancakes is an act of love. Without thinking about it, we pour our affection and nurturing energies into every spoonful of batter.”

That spirit of compassion also guides us here at Trupo Treats. 

The idea to add Trupo Treats into the batter came from Heather Decker. Decker says after eating our vegan milk chocolate bars, “The pancake recipe was the first thing that popped into my head. I thought the nuttiness would combine SO well with the crunch—and I was right!”

 

Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes Chef Linda Compassionate Cuisine Compassionate Cuisine Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes with Trupo Treats Vegan Crunch Chocolate

We hope you brought your skillet, your favorite nut or seed butter, and your appetite because it’s time to whip up some Trupo Treats-filled vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes with Chef Linda! 

Ingredients 


Pancakes 

1 ¼ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

½ cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for cooking the pancakes

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large very ripe banana, chopped into small pieces, about 1 cup

1 Trupo Treats bar, chopped 


Nut Butter Syrup

1 cup maple syrup

½ cup smooth, salted peanut butter (or your favorite nut or seed butter)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes with Chef Linda Catskill Animal SanctuaryCompassionate Cuisine Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes Batter

Directions

To make the nut butter syrup, mix the syrup and your nut butter together in a small pot over medium heat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and stir. Cover and set aside. 

To make the pancakes: whisk together milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside while preparing the dry ingredients.

In a medium bowl, mix together the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Stir the syrup, oil, and vanilla into the milk mixture and pour this into the bowl with dry ingredients.

Stir to combine, being careful not to overmix. Gently stir in the banana.

Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes Compassionate Cuisine Vegan Chunky Monkey Pancakes

 

Next: 

  1. Warm a large non-stick pan over medium heat. 
  2. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan and carefully spread with a paper towel. Test the temperature by cooking one small pancake first. If the batter sizzles when it hits the pan and forms bubbles on the top after 1 to 2 minutes without burning, your temperature is right. If it doesn’t sizzle, wait a minute or two longer, or increase the heat slightly. If the batter burns quickly, turn down the heat and wait a few minutes for the pan to cool down. 
  3. Use a 1/4 cup measure to create 4-inch pancakes. 
  4. Pour batter onto the pan and wait until bubbles form on the surface, about 2 to 3 minutes. 
  5. Sprinkle on a few Trupo Treats chocolate pieces. 
  6. Use a spatula to flip pancakes and cook for another minute or two or until bottoms are lightly browned. 
  7. Continue until the batter is gone. 
  8. To serve pancakes, top with warm nut butter syrup. 
Store extra syrup in a covered container for up to a week.

Chef Linda Catskill Animal Sanctuary With SheepChef Linda Soper-Kolton with Catskill Animal Sanctuary resident Stewie the Sheep

We’re so grateful to Chef Linda for giving us exclusive access to this pancake recipe which can only be found in the Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s official cookbook. This gorgeous full-color cookbook is truly a must-have for any vegan foodie! 


You can buy a copy directly from CAS’s online store or from your favorite local book retailer


You can follow CAS’s Compassionate Cuisine Instagram account, Add Love Stir, for more delicious vegan food. You can also enroll in virtual cooking classes and find dozens of free recipes on Catskill Animal Sanctuary’s website! 

 

 

And be sure to come back later this month to bake up not one but two summery chocolate recipes with Instagram vegan food blogger Reagan Fountain of Veg Outlook! 😋

 

All photos belong to Chef Linda Soper-Kolton and are used with express permission. Not for reuse. 
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