Epicure Recipe Card #24: Banana Pancakes with Golden Syrup

You may be forgiven for thinking that these Epicure recipe cards contain only fast midweek meal ideas. It’s an easy assumption to make going on my past posts but – guess what? - there are sweet ideas in there. For the first one I have gone with the very safe option of banana pancakes. The husband loves bananas in desserts so there’s no going wrong here. The unusual thing about these pancakes is that they actually contain sliced banana hidden in the batter. Paired with a grilled banana on top (excuse my horrible grey-ish looking one in the photo below – either I left it in the pan too long or the banana was a bit too ripe to start with), there is plenty of banana-ness in, atop and around the pancakes to satisfy even the most die-hard banana fan.

I used walnuts instead of macadamias as that’s what I had in the freezer (apparently the oils contained in nuts keeps better there) but I would imagine macadamias would be lovely with their buttery taste and texture. Someone make it with these and let me know please?

Banana Pancakes with Maple Syrup (makes 3 medium pancakes)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         ½ cup plain flour

·         ½ tsp baking powder

·         tiny pinch of salt

·         1 egg, separated

·         ½ tbs caster sugar

·         125mL milk

·         ½ tsp vegetable oil

·         1 banana, peeled & sliced

·         oil and butter for cooking

·         50g macadamia nuts or walnuts, toasted

·         grilled banana, maple/golden syrup and ice-cream, to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the centre.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg yolk, sugar, milk and oil together. Pour into the dry ingredients in the first bowl and whisk until smooth but avoid over-mixing. Rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Stir sliced banana into the batter. Beat eggwhite until soft peaks form and gently fold into the batter.
4. Heat a small amount of oil and an equal amount of butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat until the butter starts to froth. Add a third of the batter to the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface before flipping to cook on the other side. Cook the remaining batter in 2 batches, adding more oil and butter to the pan if required.
5. Serve pancakes topped with grilled banana, ice cream, nuts and maple/golden syrup if desired. 

happy cooking!