Healthier Banana Pancakes

After my previous post about what is my second favourite banana pancake recipe (my first being whatever that pancake restaurant in Amsterdam made for me), a fitness fiend I've talked to on twitter gave me a couple of options that I ended up trying today (yesterday now, really). If you want to see what he's up to - he's a freerunner and fitness fella who is properly into his protein cooking.. and from what I can tell - Pancakes! Introducing, with thanks: Mitch Lee

The second one I tried, is this one.. and of the two, it's the one I did best with:

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

I made these after a trip to the cinema and they weren't bad at all. They still missed a little something, and were drier than my hairy bikers recipe. Still.. they were a lot better than the ones earlier in the day, so I take that as a positive step in the right direction. I'll come back to these and try again when I'm happy with my next attempt at a Banana Protein Powder recipe.. One last thing to add - Coconut Flour is brilliant, but I'm still learning how to use it properly, hence things aren't quite right, just yet..

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Mashed Banana
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour
• Coconut Oil
• Optional: Dried Blueberries, Walnuts or Coconut Flakes

Method

• Heat pan or griddle with coconut oil to Medium/High Heat
• Begin by whisking 3 eggs in a large bowl.
• Mix in mashed banana (Some small pieces are desired), Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Honey
• Add in Coconut Flour Whisk together
• Let sit for about 5 minutes. The allows the coconut flour to thicken the batter.
• Pour batter onto pan or griddle (silver dollar size)
• Let cook on the first side for about 4-6 minutes depending on the heat level. They will begin to bubble at about 2 minutes
• Okay, they should start to look as if the top side is nearly done cooking. You can tell it is the right time when the top takes on more of a matte look and no longer looks like raw batter. At this point they are ready to be flipped.
• Top with Maple Syrup, Honey, Butter, Fruit, or whatever you like.

The first type of pancakes I tried today, didn't go so well for me.. It suffered from the same problem that my previous protein banana pancakes suffered from - lack of moisture, they were dry.. in other words.. they could do with more bananas to make them work.. which is something I can definitely get going with :)

Coconut Banana Pancakes

Coconut Banana Pancakes

Some time ago I gave into the fact that I would have to cook some recipes in cup sizes, or forever be looking up how much I should measure/weigh out for each ingredient in a meal. I found some colourful measuring containers in cup sizes. This opened up a wealth of American based websites to me for recipes.. now if only they would put temperatures in Centigrade, instead of Fahrenheit, I'd be properly happy.

I chose to do these ones first as, of the two recipes, they attracted me the most. I can't see anything in the ingredients list that would cause me a problem.. in fact.. I usually have all of this in the kitchen ready, so it's good to find a recipe to make use of them. As it happens, yesterday I'd just run out of Almond Milk and Egg Whites, but that's just an anomoly and it'll happen from time to time, so no biggy..

You can see from the piccy above that they look a bit dry.. You cannot see the bananas in between layers with the honey - this helped with the dryness, but not enough, unfortuantely.

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 large ripe banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour

Method

• Preheat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium heat and coat with cooking spray (I used a frying pan and coconut oil)
• Whisk egg whites until frothy.
• Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
• Spoon batter onto skillet surface, forming 4 medium-sized pancakes, and allow to cook 5-6 minutes per side before flipping.
• Plate and layer with other half of banana, toasted coconut, and a drizzle of coconut butter (or in my case, I used bananas and honey)