Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

Welcome to the weekend where there’s time enough for pancakes and reason enough for chocolate inside of them.  

I hope you allow yourself at least one lazy day this weekend… where you wear you pajamas so long into the day it doesn’t make sense to change out of them.  Add homemade pancakes and that’s real, deep luxury.  

You know how people say “It takes coffee to make coffee”?  Well… it certainly takes coffee to make pancakes.  Start by making yourself a cup of joe, then carry on with recipe reading and measuring.  

Flour, a touch of sugar, leavening, and salt are whisked together.  

Butter is browned, naturally.  Well, not like browned in the sun… but I mean that it’s natural that we would brown our butter for more flavor and prestige.

Wet ingredients come together.  Buttermilk, for its texture and tang.  Browned butter for is heavenly flavor and aroma.  And the egg yolk.  Whisk! 

The egg white is kept separate, placed into a jar that has a tight-fitting lid.  We’ll get to this in a bit.  

Wet ingredients, aside from the egg white, are whisked into the dry ingredients. Whisk away the lumps.  No room for lumps in our pancake batter.  

Now let’s talk about this egg white.  Some recipes will ask you to separate the yolks from the eggs whites, beat the whites to soft peaks, and gently fold into the pancake batter making for lighter more fluffy pancakes.  Good grief that seems like a tremendous amount of work for an otherwise dump and stir pancake recipe.  

The Kitchn clued me into the middle-ground between over-ambitious and lazy.  They suggest separating the egg and simply whisking in the egg after the batter comes together.  I’ve taken it a step further, placing the egg white in a jar, shaking vigarously, and then adding to the batter.  Does it add a bit of extra fluff?  Sure it does!  Would you be able to tell the difference between an egg white shaken pancake and a lazy batter pancake?  Maaaaaybe not.   

Oh, hey listen… you have to get a griddle pan!  

This is a new addition to my kitchen since I’ve been testing recipes for the Brunch book and I’m so so happy with it!  What more can we griddle… so many things, friends.  

Look for a griddle pan at stores like TJMaxx or HomeGoods or Ross.  Or you could find one right here.  

Banana and chocolate studded pancakes.  I thought about adding peanut butter some way some how, and… well I should have.  It’s not too late for you.  The batter itself isn’t exceptionally sweet so these pancakes can support the sweetness of bananas and milk chocolate… and powdered sugar and maple syrup.  Too much?  No.  

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

• Author: Joy the Baker
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients

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• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until browned and cooled slightly
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 heaping tablespoons light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 ripe banana, sliced
• 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips or chunks
• nonstick spray or canola oil for cooking
• softened butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup for serving

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Instructions

1. In a small saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Melt until the butter begins to crackle and froth. That’s the water cooking out of the butter. Continue cooking, keeping an eye on the butter until the crackling subsides and the butter begins to brown in speckled bits across the bottom of the pan. The butter will have a nutty sell. Once the butter browns, immediately remove from heat and transfer to a small dish to stop the butter from cooking and possibly burning. Allow to cool slightly.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Separate an egg, placing the egg white in a mason jar with a tight fitting lid.
4. In a small bowl or in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup whisk together egg yolk, buttermilk, and browned butter.
5. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir to just combine.
6. Place the lid on the mason jar with the egg white. Shake vigarously until the egg white is frothy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg white to the batter and stir to combine.
7. Heat a nonstick griddle pan over medium heat. Add canola oil or non stick cooking spray lightly. Dollop batter by the 2 tablespoonful onto the griddle. Top with one or two banana slices and a few chocolate pieces.
8. When the underside is golden brown, carefully flip and cook until golden brown on the other side.
9. Remove to a plate and allow to rest is a slightly warm oven (about 250 degrees F) until all of the pancakes are cooked and ready to serve.
10. Top with softened butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup for serving.

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