White Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Weekend brunch on a stay in budget

Hubby and I are at home on less weekends than you would think.  Most of the time we are out of town, visiting family or doing something else.  While it is nice to get out of dodge, it is just as nice to wake up on a Saturday morning in my own bed, with a cuddly cat and a sleepy hubby.  On these occasions we make a holiday of our weekend and eat breakfasts that you would normally go out to brunch to get: fancy omelettes, decadent pancakes, sweet and savory crepes, turkey bacon, all the fixings, you name it.

Today I am at home.  Hubby is off at work, doing a 24 hour shift (fun), but I decided that was no reason not to have a great breakfast.  So I made one of my newer concoctions: white chocolate banana pancakes.

These were born out of an abundance of white chocolate chips (left over from when I made white chocolate bread pudding) and a lone banana in the house.  They taste like something you would get at a fancy schmancy brunch spot (like Bongo Room in Chicago for my hometown peeps), but they are very very easy. The bananas warm up and get soft, the white chocolate melts ever so slightly.  Its really really yummy.

This recipe is a good base for any kind of pancake you want to make.  You can toss in blue berries and you have blue berry pancakes.  Just add chocolate chips and you have a kid's favorite.  In our house we usually buy pancake mix (for shame!).  After the last box we bought created pancakes that tasted like pretzels (I kid you not... it was disgusting.  We had to throw the whole box away), I realized that its so silly to buy mix.  Before I got married I always made pancakes from scratch.  I don't know how marriage made me lazy... or maybe it is just my hubby's set ways rubbing off, but I decided it was time to go back to homemade pancakes.

And really, homemade pancakes are not much more difficult than the boxed kind.  You also probably have everything you need sitting in your house already for the plain pancake mix.  You can even mix up a whole bunch of the dry ingredients and keep it in a container and just add the wet when you want to make pancakes - its like your very own homemade boxed mix!

So lets get pancaking!

White Chocolate Banana Pancakes

makes about 6 medium pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 banana, diced into small pieces
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together fully.  Create a well in the middle of the mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, mix together the egg, milk and oil until well mixed and no eggy clumps remain.  Mix this into the dry ingredients until the mixture is just combined and wet.  DO NOT OVER MIX. The batter should remain lumpy.  This is to ensure that you do not overwork the gluten in the flour and end up with tough, rubbery pancakes.  Mix in the banana and white chocolate chips.

resist the urge to mix out the lumps.  Smooth batter = tough pancakes.

Heat a lightly greased medium sized skilled over medium heat.  Pour about a 1/4 of batter into the pan and allow to cook until bubbles begin to break on the surface and the edges dry a little.  Flip the pancake and continue cooking on the other side.  Each side should take about two minutes.

This is what a pancake that is ready to be flipped looks like.

Remove from heat and enjoy!

Note: I personally do not think these need syrup as they are quite sweet on their own.  My hubby however will douse them in syrup.  The flavor of maple does go very well with the white chocolate and banana, so experiment and decide what you like best.  I usually eat with just a small amount of whipped cream on the side.

Source: adapted from Better Homes and Gardens