See this pin?

 

Look at that mouthwatering photo of Brown Sugar Banana Bread Pancakes.

Here is what you need to make them:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Obviously the bananas are missing from the photo and that is because no one wants to see a photo that has my ugly, brown bananas in it.  You know those weeks when you buy too many bananas or there is a great banana SALE!!!!?  I put them in the freezer peel and all when they get too many spots for consumption.  When I want to make a Banana something, I pull the number of bananas I need out of the freezer, thaw and then squeeze the banana out of the peel.  Looks gross, but tastes great baked into stuff – don’t try to eat them solo!  Ewwww.

So here is what you do with this stuff:

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add in milk and vanilla, stirring to combine. The mixture will still be dry. Add in mashed bananas and mix. Add in melted butter and stir until batter is somewhat smooth.

Heat a skillet or grilled on medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup, or the vanilla maple glaze.

Now the original recipe says to use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 regular white all purpose flour of you can’t find whole wheat pastry flour.  Well Maine is no man’s land and unless I wanted to venture to the store that reeks of patchouli and BO, the only flour I could find was straight whole wheat.  And I used it, 2 cups.  I didn’t bother with mixing my wheat with my white.  Call me a flour racist but it seemed wrong.

Here they are in the pan:

Now here are a few things to know:

1. This batter resembles muffin/quick bread batter BECAUSE IT IS SUPPOSED TO.  Got it?!  Some of the commenters on the pin, though snarky and amusing, clearly did not understand this.  So what you do is scoop your batter and put it in the pan, then use a spoon to flatten out the scoop because it will stay fairly stiff otherwise and never cook in the middle.

2. In spite of the negative commentary, these taste wonderful if made exactly as directed.  The only thing I did differently was use 1/4 cup scoop instead of 1/3.

Now for the syrup because a delicious pancake always needs syrup!

You will need:

1/2 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using a whisk, mix these ingredients together and you end up with this:

Now the thing about this is that the sugar mixture is WAY off.  If I had to do this over I think I would add the powdered sugar 1/8 of a cup at a time until it tasted yummy but didn’t have that “you are eating mouthfuls of liquid sugar” taste, unless you are into that sort of thing.

These pancakes were delicious and in spite to the nasty comments people made on the site, two teenagers, a very picky pre-schooler, a husband and picky me can’t be wrong!  Based on the texture and density, I think one would be good for breakfast with a thin spread of peanut butter too!  Add a little fruit and SUPER YUM!!!

HEATHER