Joy the Baker

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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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.  

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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.

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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.  

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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.  

Egg White for pancakes

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.   

Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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 Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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.  

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Banana Milk Chocolate Weekend Pancakes

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

Ingredients

  • 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

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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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Teresa

    And I just went back to read the whole post. Lol. I am sans Java this lent but……a little bubbly went well witty pancakes, both while making and then devouring!!???

    Reply

  2. Teresa

    PS. I was contemplating the poppy seed or bacon pancake versions but given my 12 year old only eats chocolate chip I had a ripe banana, had to go with this recipe. So glad I did!

    Reply

  3. Teresa

    I just made these as my dessert. So yummy! I topped with whipped cream, syrup and more mini chocolate chips that I topped them with! Thank you for these very fluffy & tasty pancakes. I have never whipped egg whites for pancakes; waffles, yes, but not pancakes. I think the egg white shaking is worth the effort! ?

    Reply

  4. courtney

    I don’t know what happend to mine but there was definitely not enough liquid and they turned out more like dense biscuits than fluffy pancakes. Not very yummy :(

    Reply

  6. Isabel

    Just made these today. Added real NH maple syrup. #bestpancakesever and made in Spain as if they were local

    Reply

  9. Caroline

    I wanted these as soon as I saw this post, but I didn’t have buttermilk and what was left of the normal milk was… a little suspect. But I had super thick and frothy Kaloona chocolate milk, so I used that and swapped in bittersweet chocolate chips to make up for the added sweetness to the batter. Then I added some peak-ripeness-no-really-we-will-be-goners-if-you-don’t-use-us-RIGHT-NOW strawberries in with the bananas. OH MY GOD. SO GOOD.

    Reply

  10. Ashleigh

    Mmm so inspired! Thanks again for a wonderful recipe. And yes. ..griddles are fantastic. My grandmother gave one to my husband and i before we got married and I can’t count the number of times we’ve used it. Pancakes, reheating leftovers, the classic eggs and bacon, grilled cheese. …delicious!

    Reply

  11. Nancy Mock

    I had never heard of Banana Pancakes until I heard the Jack Johnson song, ‘Banana Pancakes’. And then I ran to the kitchen to try some Banana Pancakes. Your version with browned butter sounds so good, and I can’t wait to try the egg whites trick. Oh how I wish it was the weekend. :)

    Reply

  14. Christine

    I was so excited for these. I don’t know what went wrong. I don’t have batter- I have dough! I’m afraid to turn the griddle on and attempt to cook them.

    Reply

  16. robinterry1

    I read that same article on TheKitchn and gave their technique a shot…I was so happy with the results! Next time I just need to add chocolate and bananas ;-)

    Reply

  21. Erica

    Joy, these were an amazing treat for my kids (and me) this morning! The browned butter made all the difference I think. Thanks as always for the inspiration to make something special. I got about 12 pancakes out of this recipe for anyone who is wondering. Probably 3-4 inches diameter? happy weekend!

    Reply

    • Frankie

      This was the recipe I used to make my first EVER pancakes. I must say, they were pretty darn good. Keep the wonderful recipes comin’!

      Reply

  23. Kathy Mader

    I was drooling for a picture of a forkful of these pancakes, to see the melted chocolate…yes!, want to see the interior of these scrumptious babies! Maybe I’ll make them with my little girlfriend this afternoon :)

    Reply

  26. Taylor

    These look absolutely amazing! I’ve been craving pancakes recently and these look like the perfect cure! Thank you for sharing this recipe.

    – anyways2015.wordpress.com

    Reply

  27. nathaliya01

    Yummy, these sounds like a wonderful classical old school pancake. The one which are full of flavour and where you do not scrimp on taste. I have never used both baking soda and baking powder for a pancake recipe but will give it a try next time :) thank you for your lovely work I like to come back every week :)

    http://potsofsmiles.blogspot.com/

    xxxxx

    Reply

  30. Cecile

    I used to prepare banana, choc. chip and walnut pancakes for my twin sons when they were at home – but I used a purchased mix. This recipe does look (As Jenna said) ‘scrumptious’!! Gonna go pin it right now!! (I’m retired, so everyday is a weekend for me now… and I’m still in my flannel pjs as I type this!!) ; o )

    Reply

  32. Rossi @ A Baking Girl

    I love the egg white jar trick, because good grief no way I’m whipping egg whites to soft peaks for pancakes. And I also love how honest you were about maybe not even being able to tell the difference

    Reply

  33. Joan E. Bernstein

    I didn’t realize my life was not complete until I bought a griddle. These pancakes are one more delight I can cook on it! Thanks.

    Reply

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