“Buttermilk” Banana Pancakes Made with Love
Oddly enough, my husband and I had our very first date on Valentine’s Day. I know, I know, not the best day for a first date, but it worked out well I would say. Yet, because we are frugal, we never go out on the actual day of to celebrate. There are no 2-for-1’s and you have to battle the crowds for reservations … simply not our style.
My sweet husband had already given me a beautiful Valentine’s gift earlier in the week (he can never wait!), but I still wanted to make something nice for him on this special day …
Well, it was a nice attempt anyway. You see, while I can come up with ideas that work out well and customize recipes nicely, my execution is often very, very poor. I am super-slow in the kitchen, and lack some of those basic skills … like the ability to flip pancakes. Yep, they turn out like mutants. Sure, they taste good, but pretty they are not.
After attempting to make several “normal-sized” pancakes, I finally realized that dollar-sized were the only way to go for my bumbling spatula skills. That is when my wonderful husband entered. I pointed at one, and said, “See, that one looks kind of like a heart!” He reciprocated, “An internal one maybe!” After we both had a good chuckle, he took the helm, and some nice little pancakes resulted …
That work he did as a teenage burger flipper definitely left him with some solid life skills. Though I must say, that every meal seems to turn out better when we make it together. We make a great team.
So, with a belly full of these pancakes we headed out for a hike in the desert hills to enjoy the sunshine and the first day of our 14th year together.
“Buttermilk” Banana Pancakes
Vegetarian, Vegan / Egg-Free (optional), Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Peanut-Free, Tree Nut-Free
This recipe was inspired by one that I saw on Recipezaar. While I love banana flavor, I am not big on pancakes with too much bananal; it is a textural thing. So I just used 1 large banana, which equated to 1/2 cup of mashed banana. Feel free to use more if you prefer, they should still turn out nicely.
- 1 3/4 Cups Original or Unsweetened Milk Alternative (I used almond)
- 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar or Lemon Juice
- 2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (can use all-purpose, a combo of all-purpose and regular wheat flour, or experiment with your flours of choice)
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Large or Jumbo Egg (see note below for egg-free)
- 2 Tablespoons Oil (I used grapeseed)
- 3-4 Tablespoons Honey or Agave Nectar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 to 1 Cup Mashed Ripe Banana (1 to 2 large)
In a large bowl, combine the milk alternative and vinegar or lemon juice, and set it aside for just a minute.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set that aside.
Returning to the milk alternative, whisk in the egg, oil, honey or agave, vanilla, and banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just everything is combined, but do not overmix. A few lumps are okay (especially since you are likely to have some banana lumps!).
Heat a small amount of oil (maybe a teaspoon) in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat (my stove can get a little too toasty on medium). Pour about 1/4 cup of batter (or 2 Tablespoons for those little dollars) onto the skillet for each pancake.
Cook until the bubbles break on top of the pancakes (check to ensure they don’t brown too much though), flip, and cook for another minute or two, or until lightly browned on both sides. Serve with maple syrup, berries, nut butter, or other topping of choice. Since I was cooking, I completely filled up on munching them plain as I was going!
Flash freeze any leftovers and toast them up for a quick pastry breakfast anyday!
Vegan / Egg-Free Option: Warning, I have not tried this, but am fairly confident it will work. If you want to omit the egg, either use more banana (aka the whole cup) or up the milk alternative to 2 cups, and add a wee bit more baking powder (perhaps round it out to a full 2 teaspoons).
Yields about 2.5 to 3 dozen dollar pancakes
26 thoughts on ““Buttermilk” Banana Pancakes Made with Love”
Your pancakes turned out perfect! My husband and I celebrated on Friday instead of Saturday ourselves…to avoid the crowds and inflated prices. It was just as delicious as it would have been on on Feb. 14th. 🙂
Have a good Sunday…I’m jealous of your desert hike! Enjoy some of that dry air for me.
Happy Valentines Day / Anniversery celerbrations I’m with you avoiding the crowds, we are going out next weekend.
What a delicious stack of pancakes!!
Hope all is well, Alisa!! xx
These are absolutely fantastic!
An internal heart is a heart nonetheless! LOL!
Love your stack!
Aww, what a sweet day for a first date (although maybe you should’ve had your first date on Halloween or something… I bet getting reservations would be a lot easier!)
cute!
dollar pancakes are fun. We had our little romantic dinner the night before valentine’s day… we had pancakes for dinner! it was so much fun. pancakes for dinner is really one of the great joys of being a grown up.
🙂
What cute pancakes! We also did the stay-at-home Valentine dinner. Happy anniversary!
These sound really good! I haven’t had silver dollar pancakes in ages. Mine never seem to turn out the right shape but they’re always still good anyway!
I met (and married) my husband on Valentines Days (3 years apart). We however don’t really buy into it either, but being our anniversary it gives us an excuse to pretend we do (plus finding romantic presents is always easier at this time of year :P).
Those pancakes look incredible!
mmm, these pancakes look delicious!
I like the idea of mashed (versus sliced) banana in pancakes–as you say, you avoid the whole weird texture thing with the mushy slices. And these do look lovely (kudos to the hubby), but aww, can’t we see some of the mutants?? 😉
Amey – I am sure my sugar-addicted husbad would love pancakes for dinner!
Vegetation – Happy Anniversary!!
Ricki – It wasn’t until just recently that I spotted that idea for banana slices in pancakes, but thanks for bringing it up as I think that is a great idea. I like the flavor of less ripe firm bananas better too, so that sounds like a great way to infuse flavor.
Sounds like a fantastic way to spend V Day! 🙂
Thanks for the yummy recipe! That is cool that you include a vegan and egg-free option! I am not vegan myself, but have been trying to use as many whole foods as I can!
I can’t even imagine the pressure of having your first date on V-Day, yet clearly it can work out. The banana pancakes sound great. I made banana waffles with almost exactly the same ingredients yesterday! BTW, my son LOVED the milk chocolate hearts from Premium Chocolates. I really liked their cherry truffles. Thanks for the recommendation!
Congrats on 14 years! We all love pancakes, too. My son loves banana, my husband likes the faux buttermilk….I think I need to make some next weekend. (That photo has me craving them.)
14 years! Congrats!
Those pancakes are making my mouth water and the recipe looks easy to convert to gluten-free. Yum.
These look fabulous and I love how healthy they are. I’ve always picked up the almond milk and WF and put it down because I’m never sure what to do with it, but this seems like a great start.
Ooh, those pancakes look fantastic!
What a wonderful site you have here! Your photographs are gorgeous.
The pancakes look delicious! I do love banana pancakes! I could not agree more that cooking with my husband is the best! I don’t know why, but our meals are so much better when we make them together!
Maggie – I am so glad your son liked the Premium chocolates!
Elly – You must get almond milk, it really is the best!
Wonderful Looking Pancakes! I’ve just started using the rice milk in my pancake recipe instead of regular milk and they still turned out great. Had to use a little less though. I will have to try adding bananas to my recipe. Thanks for sharing!
These are the best pancakes I’ve ever made! Thanks for all the great recipes!!!
These were sooo good! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
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