Banana pancakes with nutty maple topping

So apparently today is national pancake day.  I know this because Mike & Mike on ESPN told me while they ate pancakes all morning.  I didn’t even pay attention to what sports stuff they were talking about, because really: if it’s not football season, it’s background noise.  And pancakes.

My husband and I are taking the day off together to regroup after some really sad news, and I thought we could use some comfort food for brunch today.   Because, around here we don’t just eat our feelings.  We cook them from scratch, then eat them, and then sometimes wash them down with a nice glass of pinot grigio–but not during breakfast, silly.  Everyone knows pancakes pair better with coffee than white wine, and also drinking at 11 am on Tuesday is highly inappropriate.

I won’t even try to pretend this is really an original recipe– it’s sort of informed by the pumpkin pancakes over at Balanced Bites, which are crazy delicious; and I know I’ve seen a million flour-less skinny sad pancakes full of bananas and egg whites with fat-free artificially-sweetened yogurt on top (ugh—why?!  please Eat the Yolks).  Hmmm… can you tell I listen to Diane & Liz’s podcast all the time?  I just linked to both their blogs/books in the same sentence.  This recipe was also informed by the extra ripe bananas hanging out on the counter.

Ok. enough rambling. let’s eat.

Banana Pancakes–makes about 5-6 pancakes, 2 servings

2 ripe bananas

3 eggs

2 tablespoons coconut flour (sifted)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

First, melt your butter/oil in a large frying pan over medium heat; my large burner was set just below 4.  Smash your bananas in a medium mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs, vanilla & salt.  Next get a wire mesh strainer/sifter and sift in the coconut flour; I went ahead and put the cinnamon and baking soda through the sifter too, but it’s not necessary.   Whisk again!  (I like the word whisk–I believe it’s what you call an onomatopoeia.)  Finally add your melted butter/oil from your preheated pan to the batter and whisk again!   See what we did there: preheating and melting and greasing the pan all at once.   Now you’re ready to cook; keep the heat medium low, ladle in some batter, and be patient.  Prepare yourself, these cook a lot more slowly than ordinary pancakes.  Flip when it’s bubbly, semi-solid and starting to brown… then repeat with the rest of the batter… you know how it works.

and meanwhile…

Nutty Maple Topping

1-2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup REAL maple syrup  –  just go ahead and spend a little more and buy the good stuff.  You might as well lock Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima and Hungry Jack all together in a Log Cabin far far away from your kitchen because it’s artificially maple flavored corn syrup garbage.

Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium/low heat and toast the walnuts in it.  Once they’re warm and toasty add the cinnamon and maple syrup and turn it down to low.  Spoon this lovingly over your banana pancakes and devour.

My husband’s review:

“Disgusting.  Horrible.  Hated it. I might throw up.”