"Well aren't you acting all domesticated this morning..." Hector said to me after I offered to make him pancakes for breakfast. It was not the first time I made pancakes, and certainly not the last. But it is certainly not something that I do every week. But for some reason I wanted to make pancakes yesterday - probably due to the fact that did not wake up until shortly after 9am... most mornings I am up between 5-6:30, but yesterday, I slept in late. Very, very late. Perhaps that is what inspired me to make the pancakes. I have made chocolate chip pancakes before, plain pancakes, but for some reason pancakes with thin, fresh slices of banana seemed like the right thing to make. The Joy of Cooking recipe is one of the best I have found, and I go to it time and again. It allows for variation and substitution. The recipe as is makes for the perfect pancake: light, fluffy, and satisfying. Feel free to add, take away, and have fun with this classic that will make your weekends seem a little bit longer...
Adapted from 1997 Joy of Cooking
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C milk
3 tbsp melted butter
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp banana
1 medium banana thinly sliced
Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add in the eggs, milk, and butter. Stir until all the ingredients are mixed together, do not worry if you have some lumps, you do not want the batter over mixed. Add in the banana.
Heat a non-stick pan or skillet. I use cooking spray, but you can use butter as well. (Some pans do not need any kind of spray etc.) Use about 1/3 C for each pancake and pour onto the skillet/pan. Cook until bubbles rise top of the pancake and begin to pop open. Flip the pancakes and cook in the other side for several minutes until they are golden brown. You can keep the pancakes warm underneath a kitchen towel, or in the oven at 200F. NOTE: pancakes freeze well! Once the pancakes are cooled, put uneaten ones (as if you will really have this problem...) into a freezer bag.
