These moist and fluffy banana walnut pancakes are a great way to start your day. If you are pressed for time, you can skip the caramelized bananas on top, but I wouldn’t recommend it!
Pancakes on a weekday? Yes!
If there is any silver lining surrounding a global pandemic, perhaps it is the time to enjoy breakfast at home more often…
Pancakes are usually reserved for weekends, or special brunches. Why not use the extra time at home to treat yourself to pancakes during the week? You could also make the batter ahead of time, and keep it in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, so you can pull it out and have fresh pancakes during the week.
Bonus: Cooked pancakes keep very well in the fridge for 2-3 days and are a great snack (hot or cold).
Evolution of my pancake recipe…
This recipe for banana walnut whole wheat pancakes has been an on-going experiment in my kitchen for some time. I have merged, tweaked, added and deleted from various recipes from family and on-line.
I have played around with using different types of flour and their ratios, and prefer a mix of all-purpose, whole wheat and walnut flours. The whole wheat and walnut flours add substance to the pancakes, and a more interesting texture and taste.
Sugar options for pancakes
There are no end of sugars and sugar substitutes out there, that could be used to sweeten these pancakes. I don’t like my pancakes too sweet, I prefer to add sweetness in the toppings, or sometimes I will just eat them plain.
I have opted to use coconut sugar in this recipe, but you could substitute for white or brown sugar at a 1:1 ratio. If you haven’t used coconut sugar before, it is very similar in taste to brown sugar.
Cooking these yummy pancakes
You could certainly just add the batter to the pan, and skip adding the sliced bananas. I definitely encourage you to try at least one with the slices. With sliced bananas placed on the pancake, the slices will caramelize with the butter and sugar as the pancake cooks.
If you have left over sliced bananas, toss them in sugar and throw them in the pan with some butter and brown on each side. You will have amazing caramelized bananas to top off your pancakes!
Banana Walnut Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup walnut flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 tbsp melted butter, unsalted cooled
- 1 banana mashed
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For Cooking
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 banana sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together the dry ingredients, including the coconut sugar
- Mash up one of the bananas, and set aside
- Whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla until well combined
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined, a few lumps are ok
- Fold in the mashed banana, and let the batter sit for a few minutes
- Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat. Add butter to pan and once melted, add in about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter. A measuring cup or ice cream scoop works well!
- Optional: Add some of the sliced banana to the pancake once in the pan
- Cook on one side for ~2-3 minutes, until popped bubbles do not fill in with raw batter, then flip
- Let cook on the other side until golden brown (~1-2 minutes)
- Repeat cooking process until all batter is used up, it should yield about 10 medium (4") sized pancakes.
