Banana-Almond-Chocolate Chip Pancakes

From KatieElby by Katie Elberson

August 27, 2009

Bring out those tiny violins, because Boyfriend’s marathon birthday weekend is over. I know; you’re devastated. Trust me when I tell you that he is, too. The cake has been eaten, the keg has been returned to the liquor store, and both of our pockets are quite a bit emptier, but it was a hell of a celebration. And wait, hold the phone, it’s actually not over, because my birthday present to him – a concert featuring one of his favorite bands – doesn’t even happen until this Sunday. Is this kid lucky or what?

But before we returned to some semblance of normalcy in our lives on Monday, there had to be another solid weekend brunch. Fortunately, I didn’t have to look far, because in all of our cake-pizza-beer gluttony, we’d neglected to even glance at fruits and vegetables – so the once-bright cluster of bananas on Boyfriend’s countertop was now blackened and within a day of its natural life. Pancakes, they whispered to me, make us into pancakes.

Who am I to argue?

I make pancakes fairly often, and I make them with bananas and nuts quite a bit, too…but these are special. Rather than just slicing the bananas really thinly and laying them on top of the pancakes as they sizzle away in their skillet, the bananas are mashed up into the batter itself and mixed with a tiny bit of almond extract, which really makes these unique. And of course (because at this point, why the eff not?) there had to be chocolate chips. Ghiradelli chocolate chips. Because we of the Birthday Celebration are too good for store-brand chocolate chips.

Banana-Almond-Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Adapted from All Recipes

1 cup flour

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 bananas, mashed

½ tsp almond extract

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup chopped almonds

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together egg, milk, mashed bananas, vegetable oil, and almond extract. Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix just until combined. Batter will be lumpy. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Heat large heavy skillet or frying pan over medium heat, spray with cooking spray (or butter/oil), and pour about ¼ cup of batter onto the pan. When the top begins to bubble, flip, and continue to cook until both sides are evenly browned.

These pancakes are really sweet, and I put nothing on them – no butter, no syrup, no powdered sugar, nothing. And they were awesome.