This morning, my 5-year old granddaughter wanted pancakes for breakfast. We decided on banana pancakes and I set to work. Pancakes are a lot of fun because once you have the basics down, you can add just about anything to them and make them all kinds of different ways. Here for your enjoyment, is my latest rendition of the banana pancake.
Brendilly's Banana Pancakes
Copyright 2012 Brendilly Bakes, All rights reserved
1 C. Milk
3 T. Fresh Lemon Juice
2 cups White Whole-Wheat Flour
2 t. Baking Powder
1-1/2 t. Ground Cinnamon
1 t. Kosher Salt
1 t. Grated Lemon Zest
1/2 C. Sour Cream
1/4 C. Agave nectar
2 Eggs
1 t. Vanilla Extract
1 T. Torani caramel flavored syrup
4 Ripe Bananas, coarsely mashed (so you have banana lumps in your pancakes)
DIRECTIONS: In a bowl or quart measuring glass, pour lemon juice and milk, and let sit while you mix the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and cinnamon.
To the milk and lemon mixture add; sour cream, eggs, vanilla, Agave, and caramel syrup. Whisk until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.
Fold in the mashed banana.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet or on a griddle over medium-low heat (300 on an electric griddle). Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Batter will be thick, so spread the pancakes out a bit as your ladling. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with butter and maple syrup.
Pancake syrups abound on grocery store shelves, but for my money, there's no skimping on the real thing. For one thing, real maple syrup is typically not processed and therefore contains higher levels of potentially beneficial minerals including, copper, potassium, and calcium. Real maple syrup also has a higher antioxidant content than processed sugar, which is found in many of the counterfeit syrups. From what I understand, the body also assimilates pure maple syrup much slower than processed sweeteners, which translates to "better for you". One of the major differences between pure maple syrup and the others is taste. The real thing does taste different, like farm-fresh eggs or fresh cow's milk taste different than their processed counter-parts. Trust me though, it's good, and once you get used to it you won't want to go back. Give it a try......maybe on these yummy banana pancakes, and see what you think. :-)
