Pancakes are a breakfast favorite around here. Partially because they are fast and delicious and partially because one of Amaya’s favorite shows is Sid the Science Kid, and the episode about cooking pancakes is one of her favorites. Our go-to recipe is a riff on one by Alton Brown. Today, we happened to have some local, organic whole wheat flour and perfectly ripe bananas on the counter. Amaya loves to peel them but doesn’t have any particular interest in eating them, and these banana pancakes were born. They were surprisingly tender and light, cooked on an ungreased non-stick griddle. They had a clear banana flavor and a bit of nuttiness from the coarsely ground flour. With some butter and maple syrup, they passed muster with both Alex and Amaya, not an easy task since she’s not overly fond of eating bananas and he’s not a fan of whole wheat anything. Try them, you may love them too.
**Banana Pancakes**
– 2 cups whole wheat flour
– 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
– 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 2 extremely ripe bananas
– 1/2-3/4 cups buttermilk
– 2 eggs
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
– 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Coarsely slice the bananas and put them in a blender with 1/2 cup buttermilk. Blend on low until completely pureed. Add enough buttermilk to make two cups of liquid and then add the eggs and vanilla. Puree briefly on low speed to bring everything together. Pour in the butter while the blender is running and turn it off as soon as it is absorbed into the liquid. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together until everything just comes together in a relatively smooth batter.
We cook our pancakes on an electric griddle set at 350°F without any additional fat. The wheat flour and brown sugar cause the pancakes to brown easily, so flip them a little earlier than you might with regular pancakes, when you have bubbles around the outer perimeter but not in the center of the cakes, to be safe.
These pancakes will be a little more delicate than your average buttermilk pancake, so flip them carefully and cook until just done. Serve hot with butter, maple syrup, honey, or whatever your pleasure.
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