If you don’t like the smell of burning, then stay out of the kitchen…

Kelli is planning the menu for when her daughter comes over to visit her at the end of the week. So, naturally, being the cook I am …

Pause here while you all roll around guffawing and pooh-poohing…

… I decided to help her by dedicating this recipe to her!

OK – you can stop laughing now.

Fluffy Banana Pancakes

First off, it’s important to know that you are aiming to make something that vaguely resembles this:

Ready? (I can still hear some giggling there in the back row!)

Sift 100 g of white flour and 40 g of whole wheat flour, together with 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder, into a big bowl.

Add about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. (The recipe calls for 2 tbs. but I don’t like my pancakes to be too sweet!) Dig Make a hole in the flour mixture.

Put 175 ml (that’s 1.75 dl) milk into another container and then stir an egg into the milk. Now pour this egg-milk mixture into that hole in the flour mixture. Admire the swirls.

Then use a wooden spoon to mix the mixture until it is smooth and not too lumpy.

At this point, the whole mixture looks something like this:

Wet mixture

Don’t despair if it looks like a lifeless lumpy mixture of sawdust or something the cat dragged in. Remember – it’s the taste that counts!

Cover the offending mixture and let it rest for half an hour. That’s 30 minutes.

Whip off the cloth – does it look any better? No, not really! Never mind…

Now mash two ripe bananas (you’ll need to peel them first as the skin is a bit crunchy and sticks in your teeth), and then mix them into that wet sawdust mixture of yours.

In the meantime, your frying/pancake pan should be nice and warm. I use a non-stick as I don’t like to add butter/oil for every pancake. I just put a bit of butter in the pan for the first one, and then I find I don’t need it anymore.

OK – so now I use a ladle or small cup or something and put two ladlefuls into the pan (to make two pancakes). Remember you are making largish fat pancakes, not small, skinny French ones with a penchant for Prada handbags.

It’s quite important not to start surfing on your phone, chat on Facebook or wander off in search of something more interesting to do. Because unwatched pancakes burn. So do watched ones as a matter of fact!

Anyway, keep peeking until you see that the underside is brown. Flip the pancake and brown the other side. You know the drill! When they are golden brown, or deeply tanned, they are ready to eat!

Toppings – whatever takes your fancy! Anklebiter #1 takes frozen berries – or fresh ones – and mashes them into a lovely fruit sauce. Anklebiter #2 likes cinnamon mixed with sugar, and I like the fruit sauce with some Turkish yoghurt. Sir Pe is lucky to get the leftovers… He likes lemon juice and sugar.

We made these pancakes a few days ago in order to get some photos for Kelli. When Anklebiter #1 saw them, she burst out, “Quick! Take some photos to put on your blog and show everyone that they are not burnt!”

How sweet! (You can see that our definition of ‘not burnt’ is probably quite different to your own…)

Not quite burnt - delicious - banana pancakes!

Hope you and Jess enjoy them!

By the way, we always make DOUBLE quantities of this recipe as they are just so more-ish!