Easy Banana Pancakes

So, Pancake Day has rolled round again.. & after my six month trip over the water to Dublin, and my return to London (with access to a Kitchen), there probably couldn't be a better time to start to get things in motion again.

image blatantly found via google images, until I sort one out myself

I found this recipe aeons ago and posted it on my facebook wall.. My Sister leapt on it and made it before I could get round to it. She told me it was good, so I just needed to get on and do it.. then I went to Dublin and it dropped out of my thoughts for a while. Well, last month I was home.. I was making omelettes, and decided why not.. it's basically a Banana Omelette, and yes.. how good was it!? :) I made it several more times that week in the evening, with warmed Blueberries on the top each time and once with honey on top and once with some other syrup I'd found in the back of the fridge.. each time it was a winner.. There's nothing to it, really.. just mix up the eggs and mashed banana and you're essentially there.. Easy, Quick, Delicious..

Ingredients

• 1 Ripe Banana
• 2 eggs

Method

• Mash up the banana in a bowl
• Crack two eggs into the bowl
• Whisk
• Pour mixture into a hot lightly oiled non-stick pan (Coconut Oil works well here) and lower the heat to medium
• Cook on the one side until the wetness disappears on the top side & flip to cook the other side
• Serve on a plate with whatever additions you like (Blueberries are my favourite) or with nothing at all
• Enjoy!

Banana Protein Cupcakes

I've been mistreating my body a bit recently, I've been indulging my other fixation of Chilli's and took the Red Dog Saloon Naga Wing Challenge. I managed to pass the test, got my T-Shirt for eating all of the Naga Wings and enduring the 5 minute burn time, but... My body, understandably, chose to reject the Chilli invasion overnight, resulting in sleep deprivation and some considerable pain. A couple of days after that, I went to a friends BBQ and drank a few more beers than normal so had a bit more pain to endure. As such, and with it being a glorious weekend, I decided I needed to kickstart the body's healthy vibe again and do some protein cooking..

Not that long ago I went along to see Anna Sward, of Protein Pow fame, and took part in one of her Protein Cooking Workshops. We didn't do any banana based cooking on the day, but protein pizza's, brownies and cheesecakes were all pretty amazing and I learnt a lot from taking part - as well as meeting a lot of like-minded (though considerably fitter than me) people.

So.. those two items combined,  I trawled though Anna's cookbook and her online recipes and chose her Banana Protein Cupcake recipe, for two main reasons.. One - it's banana (natch) and Two - I had bought some Quark over the last week and wanted to use it today.. here it became the frosting on the cupcakes, which is something I'd never done before and wanted to try for myself.

Banana Protein Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 3 tbsp of oat flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 tbsps of coconut flour
• 1/2 cup of banana flavoured Whey Protein Powder

Frosting

• 1 pot of Quark (250g)
• 1/4 cup of banana flavoured Whey Protein Powder

Method

• Blend all of the cupcake ingredients together and put into silicone cupcake cases. I think Anna's are bigger than mine, because my ingredients fitted into 8 cases and hers went into 4.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes at 170DegC or when your knife comes out clean when poked into them
• let them cool (important)
• for the frosting, just mix the Quark and the Banana Whey Protein Powder
• put the frosting on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle on some Cinnamon to taste
• eat & enjoy.. it goes particularly well with a banana protein latte ;)

Banoffi Pie - The Original 'Hungry Monk' Recipe

Alas, with the passing of the Hungry Monk into culinary history earlier this year, I will never get to have a Banoffee (Banoffi) Pie made at the source. What I do have, by way of recompense, is access to the original recipe which I shall be making use of.. if only to compare against other creations.

I'm kind of looking at bringing together a number of Banoffee Recipes together under this blog, so it would be a travesty if I was to exclude the inspiration behind so many variations and copies.

So, without further ado, here's the original recipe..

The Original Hungry Monk Banoffi Pie Recipe

Invented at the Hungry Monk in 1972, Banoffi Pie (originally known as Banoffee Pie), is still as popular today as it was the first time it appeared on the menu. There have been many imitations as far and wide as Russia and the United States! Below is the original Banoffi Pie recipe as it first appeared in ‘The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk’ in 1974.

The Original Hungry Monk Banoffi Pie

Ingredients - Banoffi Pie Recipe (to serve 8-10 people) 

• 12 ounces uncooked shortcrust pastry
• 1.5 tins condensed milk (13.5 ounces each)
• 1.5 pounds firm bananas
• 375ml of double cream
• half a teaspoon powdered instant coffee
• 1 dessertspoon caster sugar
• A little freshly ground coffee

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 (400F, ). Lightly grease a 10in x 1.5in flan tin. Line this with the pastry thinly rolled out. Prick the base all over with a fork and bake blind until crisp. Allow to cool.
• The secret of this delicious pudding lies in the condensed milk.
• Immerse the cans unopened in a deep pan of boiling water. Cover and boil for 3 hours making sure that the pan does not boil dry *(see CAUTION).
• Remove the tin from the water and allow to cool completely before opening. Inside you will find the soft toffee filling.

Method

• Whip the cream with the instant coffee and sugar until thick and smooth.
• Now spread the toffee over the base of the flan.
• Peel and halve the bananas lengthways and lay them on the toffee.
• Finally spoon or pipe on the cream and lightly sprinkle over the freshly ground coffee.

*CAUTION

• It is absolutely vital to top up the pan of boiling water frequently during the cooking of the cans. 3 hours is a long time and if they are allowed to boil dry the cans will explode causing a grave risk to life, limb and kitchen ceilings.

Hint - Banoffi is a marvelous “emergency” pudding once you have the toffee mixture in your store cupboard. We therefore suggest that you boil several cans at the same time as they keep unopened indefinitely.

Banoffee Pie - Student Edition

When I was naught but a poor student, back in the day, with ideas above my station, there came a time for the grown up dinner parties to occur. There were a group of us who would get together and throw a little party for each other. When my time came, the hit of the evening was my Banoffee Pie. It was such a hit that the girls who lived next door demanded, often, that I make this for them and bring it round in exchange for alcoholic favours. Of course.. I obliged.. The fact that I had a thing about one of the girls at the time didn't make this a difficult decision either, so the alcohol was a bonus!

It's an extremely simple recipe that I got from a Student Recipe Book, "Peckish but Poor" by Cas Clarke (now out of print). I actually remade this late last year for a friend, when I rediscovered the book, and it's still a winner, though this time I added whipped cream on top.. well.. I have a job now! :)

Ingredients

• 10oz (250g) butter, melted
• 8oz (200g) ginger biscuits, crumbled
• 16oz (400g) can condensed milk
• 2 bananas, sliced

Method

• Mix 4oz (100g) butter and biscuits together, line a 7" (17cm) flan tin with foil and then press biscuit mixture into base of tin.
• Put rest of butter and condensed milk into a pan, bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes, leave to cool.
• Put half of bananas in flan case.
• When toffee mixture has cooled, beat well and spread over banana.
• Place remaining banana on top and chill.
• Serve with cream.

Banana Rum Brownies

A simple twist on the standard brownie recipe, so you can make brownies using whatever recipe you have saved up, or even use pre-packaged brownie mix and add the banana rum mix to complete it. A lot of fun can be had by trying different combination of Brownie mixtures to find the one you like best..

I actually chose this from a myriad of boozy options for an Experimental Alcohol party, where all the guests needed to bring some food containing alcohol. There were some fantastic foods on the day.. the Vodka Key Lime Pie was lovely!

Banana Rum Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 box (about 1 lb 5 oz) brownie mix
• 1/4 cup chocolate or regular milk - I used Almond Milk :)
• 1 Tbsp rum or vanilla extract - *cough* I added a lot more Rum than this, but still couldn't taste it ;)
• 3 Bananas, cubed
• 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

Method

• Prepare brownie mix as directed on package in large bowl; set aside.
• Heat milk and extract in medium saucepan, until hot. Add bananas and stir for 1 minute to heat through.
• Pour banana mixture and nuts into brownie mix and stir. Pour into lightly greased 9-inch square pan.
• Bake at 350°F/180°C, 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into bars.

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)

Banana Pancakes

Banana Pancakes (Hairy Biker Style)

As it's coming up to Pancake day (tomorrow, in fact) we obviously need to do banana pancakes - goes without saying really, doesn't it!? :)

I still haven't quite mastered Protein Banana Pancakes, but may try out a recipe or two tomorrow.. in the meantime, this is my go to Banana Pancake recipe of choice. An ex-girlfriend made this for me originally and I loved it (with a few extra added bananas of course). It's a Hairy Bikers recipe that she got from the BBC Food Website. The original recipe included bacon, which I'm not interested in, so I did without..

I think that my major difference to the recipe below, excluding the bacon, is that I use skimmed milk and will be using coconut oil and I normally put extra bananas in there - eg. I'll blend one or two large bananas into the mixture and have an extra banana roughly chopped up, so that I get banana pieces in my finished pancake.

I'll take, and add, a photo tomorrow - just be assured, these are lovely!

Ingredients

• 55g/2oz butter, cubed
• 275g/9¾oz self–raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 free-range eggs
• 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
• 300ml/½ pint whole milk
• 1 large banana, roughly chopped
• 1-2 tbsp sunflower oil
• maple or golden syrup, to serve

Method

• Preheat the oven to 110C/225F/Gas ¼.
• Melt 25g/1oz of the butter in a small pan over a low heat and leave to cool for five minutes.
• Put the melted butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar and milk in a food processor and blend until smooth.
• Pour into a large bowl and mash the banana into the batter with a potato masher.
• Melt a little of the oil with a cube of butter in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Wipe around the base of the pan with a thick wad of kitchen paper.
• Drop four large serving spoonfuls of the banana pancake mixture into the frying pan, spacing well apart. Cook for three minutes, or until the pancakes rise, bubbles appear and the surface appears dry.
• Flip over with a palette knife and cook on the other side for a further 2-3 minutes, or until pale golden-brown.
• Transfer to a heatproof plate and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining eight pancakes in exactly the same way.
• Return the frying pan to the heat and add the streaky bacon. Cook for about three minutes on each side until golden and crisp, turning once. Add a splash of oil if the rashers begin to stick.
• Pile the pancakes onto four warmed plates and top with the fried bacon. Drizzle with a little maple syrup (or golden syrup) and serve the rest separately.