During my travels to Japan I haven’t eaten many sweets because I couldn’t find many gluten-free options. But my husband fell in love with dorayaki, so when we got back home that because one of the top things I wanted to replicate gluten-free. Have you ever seen the Doraemon anime? In this cartoon the protagonist eats dorayaki all the time!

Dorayaki is a pancake sandwich filled with sweet red bean paste. That’s right, no Nutella, no jam, the full Japanese experience is with sweet beans. 

It’s a true delicacy. The pancakes are even more tasteful than the typical European version, and the combination with the red bean paste is truly unique. In Japan you can find them in most convenience store but the best version is the fresh one, often found at food stalls or festivals. There’s a lot of passion and tradition behind this delicacy, if you want to find out more I suggest you to watch the Japanese movie “An - Sweet Bean”.

Other Japanese recipes on this blog:

• Ramen (a hot bowl of deliciousness, learn to make your gluten-free noodles too)

• Onigiri ( the traditional rice ball wrapped in a strip of dry seaweed, visible in many Japanese anime)

• Okonomiyaki (the delicious cabbage pancake typical from Osaka)

Ingredients (makes 8 dorayaki)

• 180 gr gluten-free flour

• 180 ml milk

• 70 gr sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 tsp honey

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 240 gr sweet bean paste (usually in a can, named Anko or Azuki bean paste)

1. Place the eggs, sugar and honey in a bowl and whisk with an electric mixer for 5 minutes.

2. In another bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda. Sprinkle the dry mix a little at a time into the batter while beating with the mixer. Add the milk at the end.

3. Let the batter rest for at least 10 minutes. Warm up a skillet for at least 5 minutes. Ideally use a non-stick pancake pan, lightly greased.

4. Pour a little batter (approximately 1 big tbsp) onto the pan and flip when it starts to bubble, it should take 1 min, 2 min max (as soon as you flip you should see that it’s perfectly golden. If not, adjust the heat). Use all the batter to make 16 pancakes.

5. To create the dorayaki scoop approximately 30 gr of bean paste between two pancakes (be sure to have the first baked side facing outward). Your dorayaki are ready, “Itadakimasu”!

TIPS: You can preserve the pancakes for 2-3 days maximum. Try with other fillings if you prefer.