Monday, March 30, 2015

Saw, Pinned, Tried: Banana Pancakes

Disclaimer:  I'm a waffle lover.  Waffles > Pancakes. (Leslie Knope approves).

That being said, I do not yet own a waffle iron.  I do have a griddle that I love, yet have rarely used in the past, apartment living made me lazy.  Now that I am actually living in a house though with a functional kitchen and plenty of counter space, I try to break out the griddle every now and then.

Disclaimer #2:  I've never really been a breakfast person.  All through high school and college breakfast for me pretty much just equaled 2 cups (or 5 cups) of coffee.  Then I began my love affair with the concept of brunch.  You don't have to wake up super early for it (especially if you live in a big city like Nashville.)  For breakfast you had to make it to a restaurant before 10 sometimes 9 AM.  It's more socially acceptable to consume alcohol with brunch than with breakfast.  Brunch: 2 Breakfast: 0.  I could keep going, but I think you get the point.

Both of these "disclaimers" lead to the point of this post:
I woke up early this morning and made pancakes for breakfast.  I know, shocking.  I still can't believe it.

The boy and I are trying to be more frugal and resourceful with our meals now.  We are cooking pretty much everyday now and making set schedules in weekly intervals.  I'm pretty proud of us, we've been sticking to $100 for a weeks worth of meals and it feels good.  Because of this decision I've been browsing Pinterest for meal ideas.

That's when I came across this blogger who kinda does the same thing we are trying, but she's doing it for a whole family and on a cheaper budget.  One of her breakfast options was for banana pancakes.  I thought they sounded really good for some reason and I was hoping that the banana in them would make me like them more so I gave it a shot.
I made a few variations from the recipe she used so I'll post what I did below.


Banana Pancakes (Makes about 10)

Ingredients:
      For Pancakes
       - 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled)
       - 2 tablespoons sugar
       - 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
       - 1/2 teaspoon salt
       - 1 over-ripe banana
       - 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
       - 2 large eggs
       - 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
       - dash of cinnamon (optional)
       - 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)

      For Cooking
       -Vegetable oil or Coconut oil
       -Butter
 
      For Serving (Optional)
       - Syrup
       - Sliced bananas
       - Powdered sugar
       - Cinnamon

Instructions:
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  2. In a small bowl, mash banana with a fork until almost smooth (the more over-ripe the banana, the easier this step is).  Whisk in eggs, then milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.  The cinnamon is a personal preference, and I don't really measure it.  Just do what feels right, or leave it out, they taste fine without it.  Whisk until blended.  
  3. Pour banana mixture and melted butter into flour mixture.  Fold batter with rubber spatula until blended.  Careful not to over-mix.  The batter should be thick and lumpy (See below).
  4. Set a griddle or skillet over medium heat until hot.  Put a pad of butter and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil onto griddle and swirl around.  I draw a picture of a tree, but that's just me...
  5. Drop the batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle.  Cook until a few holes form on top (about 2 minutes).  Flip and cook 1-2 minutes more.
  6. Wipe griddle clean with paper towels between sets of pancakes and repeat steps 4-6 until batter is gone.
  7. Serve hot and top with desired toppings.  
This is how the batter should look.  Think and lumpy.

Nice and golden!  Yummy.

As you can see, it makes plenty!  They are also very filling.

I topped mine with fresh banana slices, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and lots of syrup.
While neither the boy nor I are big pancake fans we both really liked these!  They are easy to make and don't leave you hungry an hour later like some pancakes do.  The recipe is also really easy to double, that way you can freeze the leftovers for an easy go-to breakfast during the week.  

Pairs nicely with a bold coffee and an episode of Once Upon A Time.  Enjoy! (: 

xBrittany



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