Brad and I both woke up late this morning. He’s the kind of person who wakes up at 7:30 on a regular basis without an alarm clock, while I’m the kind who could happily sleep 10 hours a night and still want a nap later, so when my alarm went off at 8:30 and he was still lying motionless next to me, I kept hitting snooze until he got up – at 9:30. If he’d gotten up earlier, I would have had to get up too so that he wouldn’t starve while waiting for the promised pancakes. It was lovely that both of us got to sleep in.
2 ripe bananas
1 cup of whole wheat flour
2 tspns of baking powder
cinnamon
nutmeg
3/4 cup of skim milk
1 egg or 1/4 cup of egg-beaters (I used half regular and half egg white since I ran out of the regular egg stuff)
1 Tblspn of vanilla
1/4 cup of whole-wheat flour (optional)
chopped walnuts (optional)
powdered sugar
I mashed the bananas into a big bowl, which wasn’t as easy as it should have been since they weren’t as overripe as they looked, so there were still big chunks of banana that I was too impatient to mash all the way. In another bowl, I sifted together the dry ingredients with a fork. Then I added them to the mashed bananas and mixed until the flour was moist; I didn’t mix it all the way since that would have taken forever with the large bits of banana I was dealing with. I poured the skim milk, egg and vanilla in. Then I stirred it until it was as smooth as I could get it. It seemed really watery to me, and both Brad and I like our pancakes pretty thick, so I added another 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour.
After heating a big pan that had been sprayed with butter spray, I poured some of the pancake batter on. The “secret” to knowing when to flip a pancake the first time is to watch the bubbles that form and break in the top; when the ones near the edge break and don’t fill in right away, you should be able to flip it without splattering it everywhere. Once the cooked side is facing up, I watch the sides to see how solid they are, since that’s a pretty good indication of how far the heat has penetrated into the pancake. Of course, you can always just slide your spatula underneath and peek at the bottom if you aren’t sure.
Once the first pancake was done, Brad and I of course had to try it immediately. We found the syrup and banana flavors mildly conflicting with each other so we went with powdered sugar instead, which added the little bit of extra sweetness that the pancakes needed.
Near the end of the batter, I added a few chopped walnuts and cooked a tiny bit of the batter by itself just to taste it (I was putting the rest of the pancakes from there in the freezer for future breakfasts). It was really good, adding another dimension of taste.
Next time: Make sure the bananas are soft and even more ripe so they are easier to mash and sweeter. Maybe try maple syrup in the recipe instead of vanilla. Add chopped walnuts to more pancakes.
