American style banana pancakes

I have much love for pancakes and believe their consumption shouldn’t be confined purely to Shrove Tuesday. Both American hotcakes and crepes make a fine pudding as well as a weekend-worthy breakfast and are actually very quick to make.

This recipe was the result of listening to Jack Johnson’s Chasing Dreams album. In one of the songs he sings about banana pancakes, and, as this was shortly after my experimental foray into making banana bread (one of the most heavenly cakes ever devised) and Nick had decided that bananas weren’t actually public enemy number one after all, I whipped up a batch American-style and was pleasantly surprised!

You can make these and stack them on a plate under tin foil to keep warm so that you don’t have to gobble them straight from the pan (unless you want to of course!) they wont stick together. All you need is lots of maple syrup, maybe some chocolate ice cream too if you’re having them for pudding.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 300ml milk (any kind)
• 2tsp baking powder
• 250gms plain flour
• 1tsp caster sugar
• 2tbsp butter, plus 2tsp for frying
• 1 very ripe banana (even black ones are fine)
• Toppings of your choice

Method

1. Put all the ingredients except the 2 tsp butter in a blender and blitz until smooth.
2. Heat a heavy bottom frying pan on the hob until very hot and get a plate and some foil ready to receive the pancakes.
3. Add 1 tsp butter, roll around the pan and dollop on 2-3tbsp of batter per pancake- you should be able to cook two or three in the pan at the same time, see photos.
4. When the batter starts to bubble and looks golden underneath flip the pancakes over with a spatula and cook for 1 minute on the other side. They will cook a lot faster as the pan gets hotter so be vigilant or they will burn!
5. Once cooked, transfer to the plate and cover with foil to keep hot. Repeat until all the batter has been used. You will probably get 15 pancakes from these ingredients.
6. Smother with toppings and eat while hot!