My husband's tasty pancakes

My first post.  I’m Kat’s husband.

After being on 10 different planes in the past four weeks I am home for a while and my cousin “Auntie Ticktoria” is visiting.

I’ve been addicted to the statistics of the blog while I’ve been away; I knew that if a new recipe was posted I was receiving a sign that all was well, back at the ranch. 1,065 page views to date… I could bore you with all sorts of other stuff like the fact that people from Spain and Scandinavia have viewed the blog…..but I’ll stop.

This morning the girls were very excited about the prospect of breakfast with "Auntie Ticktoria". We agreed to make pancakes, rather than my usual trip to get bagels with the girls while Kat has a lie in,   I found this recipe on the net a while ago and it was much better than any previous pancake recipe or mix I have ever used. 

Consistent with the other recipes on this blog, I've made it a  bit healthier than the original recipe.  I make the batter with whole-wheat flour rather than regular flour.  I think this started because the first time I made the recipe I couldn’t find any white flour in the house, (doesn’t mean there wasn’t any, just that I couldn’t find it….). Although butter is not the healthiest part if the recipe, it’s a worthwhile addition of flavor that can’t be replaced by oil or nonstick sprays. The caramelized banana is one of the best things about these pancakes and the butter really helps that flavor.

So here goes.

First of all make sure you have made your cup of coffee or whatever else gets you going in the morning.

Saturday morning pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup/ 4oz/ 110g wholewheat flour

1/2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup/ 240 ml buttermilk

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 banana, sliced thinly

Directions

1. Turn the oven on low to keep the pancakes warm
2. Measure out the dry ingredients and whisk them together in a mixing bowl.  
3. Add the eggs and the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth batter.  This morning my batter was a bit too thick, probably because the air is very dry at the moment, so I added some more buttermilk. 
4. Put the skillet on the stove on medium put a knob of butter on to melt. 
5. Don’t forget to put the exhaust fan on, so the kitchen is filled with the smell of pancakes and not the fumes of cooking. 
6. Chop up the banana while the skillet warms up and then add some butter to the pan.  
7. Pour some pancake batter onto the skillet, then place the sliced banana on top.
8. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side.  This will vary depending on how hot your pan is, but if it’s too hot there will be smoke and the middle of the pancakes will be raw.  If the pan it too cold the pancakes will just take forever and the banana will not caramelize.  
9. Each of the pancakes will absorb some butter so keep an eye on how much is in the pan and add a small amount before starting a new pancake if necessary.

I made double the recipe (pancakes freeze apparently) and we ate about 2/3 of the pancakes between three adults and the two kids.

Where can you go wrong?  Just don’t forget to wash the dishes after you are finished cooking.

A couple of tips:

• This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in stirring
• To freeze the pancakes, place a piece of parchment paper between each pancake and place the pancakes in a ziplock bag. To defrost, lightly toast.
• The banana can obviously be substituted for another fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, apples or pears