These Giant Double Banana Pancakes are full of mashed banana, yogurt, and healthy oats. They look pretty and impressive and are a perfect sunday breakfast.
Just like with my last post of 2016, I feel that I should write something profound in the first post of 2017. Maybe something about the future and goals and peace on earth. Or maybe something about my family and how last year put everything in perspective. Instead, I keep thinking about what New Year used to mean to me when I was a child. It’s the New Year’s Eve and New Year celebration that is the most important and anticipated holiday for Russians. It’s our version of Christmas with food, family, friends. With Santa bringing presents and festivities going for hours on end. With drinks and games and tv specials. With fireworks and toasts and memories.
January 1st is almost as important as December 31st. Tired and hungover and happy and still full of belief in magic, we eat the leftovers – tradition January 1st breakfast. Mayo laden salads, herring, sprats, cheese, deli, caviar – it’s all consumed for a few days after the celebration thus making such common New Year resolution of eating healthy a non-existent phenomenon for many Russians.
I don’t believe in New Year resolutions. They rarely work. Also, why this arbitrary January 1st date? Why not December 1st or at least the first Monday of the month? I don’t start eating healthy in January, instead I try to eat healthy-ish throughout the year. I still eat sugar and butter and bread but I try to not over-indulge. I try to use less oil or cheese or cook vegan. And if I feel like I want to eat some cake or cookies or a nice grilled cheese sandwich, then I eat them and don’t feel guilty.
So, as the world consumes tubs of non-fat yogurt with sugar-free granola this first week of January, I eat these delicious Giant Double Banana Pancakes for breakfast (after finishing my traditional mayo salads). They are full of plain yogurt, mashed banana and healthy oats and cinnamon. I suppose whole wheat flour could be used to make them even healthier, but I don’t usually have it in my pantry so I can’t comment on that.
I wanted to add even more banana flavour to the pancakes by adding whole pieces of banana to them. Instead of making regular size pancakes and adding sliced banana rounds on top, I decided to make Giant pancakes and placed long slices of banana – they look pretty and impressive and I just wanted to make something a bit different. I used a small 8-inch pan and made 4 giant pancakes. I served them with Dulce de Leche and this breakfast was reminiscent of the classic English Banoffee pie.
Giant Double Banana Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed bananas (2 large bananas)
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoons vegetable oil (optional)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
- 1 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 bananas (sliced lengthwise)
- coconut oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine very well mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, and oil if using. Mix really well.
- Add oats, cinnamon, flour, and baking powder. Mix until flour disappears. Do not over mix. Batter will be lumpy.
- Heat a small 8-inch pan on medium heat. Note: 8-inch pan usually has only 7-inch cooking surface, so you'll get 7-inch pancakes.
- Add coconut oil and melt it to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Spread 1/4 of the batter in the pan, add about 3-4 long slices of banana on top and press slightly inside the batter.
- Cook on medium or medium-low heat for about 5-6 minutes. Since the pancake is really big, it takes a bit longer to cook.
- Once the top of the pancakes stops being glossy and little bubbles start to appear, flip the pancake using a large spatula. Note: you can also slide the pancake off the pan onto a large plate, then place the pan over it and flip the plate and pan together, this way the cooked part of the pancake will be facing up. I tried both spatula and the plate flip method and plate flip was easier.
- Cook for another 3-4 minutes until bananas caramelize and the pancake is cooked through.
- Wipe the pan with paper towel before cooking another pancake.
Notes
Sarah @ The Fit Cookie says
January 5, 2017 at 8:53 pmMmm, those look tremendous!! I love the idea of laying banana slices in the batter, I should try that with my kids this weekend!
VeenaAzmanov says
January 5, 2017 at 6:41 pmI love banana pancakes. In fact my mom would make banana and dates!! I like the sound of double banana though. Can’t wait to try. Thanks
annika says
January 4, 2017 at 4:19 pmAdded to family favourites! We didn’t have enough bananas to slice and place on top so we couldn’t make the "double" version but they rocked nevertheless!! Love it when the recipe works out just perfectly! Thank you!
Imagelicious says
January 4, 2017 at 4:31 pmAnnika – I’m sooo glad you liked them even if it wasn’t a double banana 🙂 if you have a chance, try them with banana slices on top as they caramelized and get all sticky and yummy! Did you make giant version or just regular size pancakes?
annika says
January 4, 2017 at 4:43 pmWe made regular size (maybe even smaller-than-regular-size)… we are five in the family and the youngest is only 3 so smaller makes better individual portions. And I forgot to mention, we used brown whole wheat flour and it was just perfect. Usually I tend to replace white flour with white whole wheat cause it works better but in this case brown worked just finel. Next time, we will make the double version for sure.
Imagelicious says
January 4, 2017 at 4:57 pmThanks for letting me know about whole wheat flour. I confess, I have never used it myself. I should definitely buy some and start experimenting with it – if I can make something healthier without compromising the taste then why not, right?
annika says
January 4, 2017 at 5:10 pmWhite whole wheat flour works as an easy replacement to white flour but when we first switched, we did notice the difference. The trick I used to get the kids on board was to resort to using it gradually… first replacing only 1/4 of the white flour with whole wheat, then 1/2, then 3/4 and eventually we just got rid of white flour all together. But there are many more options other than whole wheat and I, like you, need to start experimenting as well!! Thanks for starting off our day with a great breakfast. Have a super day!
annika says
January 4, 2017 at 5:10 pmWhite whole wheat flour works as an easy replacement to white flour but when we first switched, we did notice the difference. The trick I used to get the kids on board was to resort to using it gradually… first replacing only 1/4 of the white flour with whole wheat, then 1/2, then 3/4 and eventually we just got rid of white flour all together. But there are many more options other than whole wheat and I, like you, need to start experimenting as well!! Thanks for starting off our day with a great breakfast. Have a super day!
Melissa says
January 4, 2017 at 2:28 pmYum! Definitely a pancake fan. Now to decide if I use my few remaining bananas to make these or those caramelized bananas you posted last week.
Imagelicious says
January 4, 2017 at 4:31 pmThese pancakes combine pancakes and caramelized bananas as they get all gooey and sticky and caramelized on top!
Gloria Duggan says
January 4, 2017 at 2:11 pmThese look awesome. I have some bananas that need to be used up. This looks like the perfect spot for them.
Imagelicious says
January 4, 2017 at 4:32 pmThanks, Gloria! They are delicious!
Karly says
January 3, 2017 at 11:08 pmGiant and pancakes are two words I just looooove to hear. Especially when they look this darn tasty! I can already smell these filling the house on Sunday morning… hopefully as my hubby makes them and I’m still in bed! 😉 Either way, they look fantastic!
Imagelicious says
January 4, 2017 at 4:32 pmThank you! I hope you get them as a treat one of those days 🙂