Banana Pancakes

Banana pancakes with fried spiced banana, brown sugar, and raw cacao nibs.. Yummmyy!!!

Banana pancakes

makes about 15-18 silver dollar pancakes

9oz. buttermilk (I used buttermilk because I had that on hand. Regular milk should work fine.)

2 extra-ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 tspn vanilla
8 oz. flour
2 heaping Tbspn brown sugar

2 tspn baking powder

2 tspn cinnamon

1 tspn salt

1. Combine buttermilk and banana in a bowl.  Mash and whisk thoroughly until most of the banana chunks have incorporated into the milk.  Add the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla and combine.

2. Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth.  Batter will be thick.

3. Oil lightly a medium hot skillet and cook the pancakes.  

Caramelized banana "sauce"

Please note that the amounts in this recipe are approximate.

4-5 extra ripe bananas, cut into slices on the diagonal

2 heaping Tbspn brown sugar

1-2 Tbspn cinnamon

1 tspn ground cloves

1 - 1 1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg

juice from half a lemon

butter, for pan

raw cacao nibs (if you can't find cacao nibs, feel free to sub with crushed pecans or walnuts)

1. In a bowl, lightly combine chopped bananas, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and lemon juice. When bananas are coated by the spice combination, set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan on medium high (to high, depending on your stovetop), melt a generous pat of butter to coat the bottom of the pan. Don't go easy on the butter! 

3. Add the bananas to the pan and allow to fry for about 5-8 minutes, until the liquid has reduced into a thin caramel consistency.

4. Remove bananas from pan, arrange over pancakes, pour sauce from pan on top, and garnish with cacao nibs.

Enjoy!