[As I post this, WordPress tells me it's my 400th post. This is actually the 415th new recipe I've reviewed. I haven't counted how many old favorite recipes I've blogged about here.]
After long last, I've started cooking in the kitchen in our new place. We moved out of our house at the end of July (during which time I tried to use up a lot of my pantry), and then house-sat for a friend for a month. After that, I moved my husband, dog, and all of our stuff to St. Louis, while I've spent the last 6 weeks continuing to work in Champaign. I drive to St. Louis every weekend (I have 2 more weeks to go), and I simply don't have a lot of motivation or inspiration (or time) to cook in the meantime. I baked the first full weekend I spent in St. Louis, and most weekends after that; but it took me a full month to actually turn on the range!
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We all know that weekend breakfast or brunch is my favorite meal, so it's fitting that the first new recipe I make (and that turns out) in the new apartment is a recipe for pancakes. Pancakes aren't my favorite in general - I prefer waffles, but I threw out my waffle maker in the move. But, pancakes are quick and easy to make, and I really enjoy adding things to them. I tried apple pancakes last weekend that really didn't turn out in any form or fashion, but this weekend I made some Banana Pancakes that really hit the spot.
The recipe was a standard pancake recipe, made with buttermilk and a little vanilla extract. The special thing about these was the addition of diced (not mashed) banana; I used 2 bananas to get the 1.5 cups I needed. I didn't have actual buttermilk, but I did have some buttermilk powder that I moved with me and that I decided would be good to use up. The recipe also calls for a cinnamon-rum syrup that I wasn't going to bother making, so I added a little cinnamon to the batter. I'm still not an expert on making pancakes (I always think mine turn out ugly), but I always cook them on an electric griddle (affiliate link) set to 375F because I saw that temperature in a pancake recipe once.
Using a third cup measure, I got about 10 pancakes. The batter was very thin, so these were not the thicker pancakes that the picture in the recipe shows. I had to spread the banana chunks apart so they were evenly distributed throughout the pancakes. I cooked them about 2 minutes per side.
These were really tasty. The bananas made the pancakes sweet enough that I didn't need syrup with them. The few bites I had without bananas were okay, and were lightly cinnamoned from the spice I added, but it was a pleasure to have soft chunks of warm banana in my pancakes.
My only complaint with these pancakes was how thin they were; it may have been because I used buttermilk powder and water in place of the buttermilk. At some point I'll try to make these with real buttermilk to see if that makes a difference; otherwise, I'll probably have to cut down on the amount of liquid I add because I think these will function better with a thicker batter. One other thing: the recipe included pecans, but I just didn't have any and I think they would have been an excellent addition. I'll try to be sure to include those, and you should as well if you like them. Overall, I think this is a good recipe, and it's one that I'll make again.
For another delicious pancake recipe, try Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes.
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