Or, what to make for pancake day.
Happy pancake day, everyone! I, for one, am very glad that there is a day devoted to the pancake. Religion and pancakes don’t have very much to do with one another in my house, but the history is interesting nonetheless. And I like to think about the millions of other people eating pancakes today (or, if you’re into deeper devotions, doing whatever it takes to make your Mardi Gras as gras as you like) with forks and fingers as eager as mine. Nearly simultaneous pancake eating: there are others out there in the pancake-eating world, and we shall eat pancakes.
This recipe is one I have been eyeing with skepticism for a few weeks now, but I decided to give it a whirl this morning, after a pretty sleepless night and with a feeling of reckless abandon. Not usually a sign of good kitchen-happenings, but bear with me. (And if you want a word-usage laugh, check this out – just a bit of Mardi Gras word-geek humor. Or at least I think it is funny. You guys like homophone jokes too, right? Right?)
Anyway. Back to the recipe. I’m trying to drink smoothies for breakfast at the moment, and I’ve allowed myself some leeway in the smoothie-ish, smoothie-like, or nearly-smoothie direction. I wouldn’t have thought any pancake could fit that description, even with creative description and a bit of misdirection with fruity toppings. However, check these guys out. They have two ingredients: bananas & eggs. (And no, I don’t put eggs in my smoothies, but I do think eggs qualify as protein-ish… and you see where I’m going now.) Now, that particular combination of ingredients makes for an unappetizing-sounding batter, not to mention no leavening of any kind, and I was dubious about the end result. Let me just say that I’m now a convert. Especially when topped with my chia berry jam. Smoothie-ish pancake day fare. Carnival a la bright kitchen.
Very slightly adapted from this recipe.
Troubleshooting:
- I used a cooking spray to lightly coat my non-stick skillet, and I found that the pan needed a new (very light) coating before each new batch entered the pan.
- These are delicate, crepe-like pancakes and a few will probably fold and wrinkle up on you a bit when you flip them. Not to worry – the end result is the same.
- I found smaller cakes easier to handle than larger ones, especially if you have trouble with wrinkling on the flip.
- 1 ripe banana
- 2 large eggs
- chia berry jam, for topping
- blend the banana and eggs until completely smooth (I used my trusty immersion blender here - others used a regular blender. I imagine you could do this by hand as well, just make sure you have a completely smooth batter.)
- heat a nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat. (I found that lower heat works better here, but adjust things to your pan & your stove.)
- when the pan is ready, lightly coat with non-stick spay. add pancake-sized amounts of batter (i.e. however much you'd like) to the pan and cook until small bubbles appear in most areas of the pancake - about 1½ minutes.
- flip and cook for another 30 seconds to a minute.
- these are thin pancakes, and work especially well when stacked as shown here.