Sunday Morning Pancakes

Breakfast has always been and always will be my favorite meal of the day.  My weekday mornings are usually filled with simple meals, a bowl of cereal, oatmeal topped with apples and walnuts, or even a couple of eggs with toast.  But it’s the weekend where I like to spend a little extra time preparing breakfast.  This Sunday morning I decided to try out a new pancake recipe by one of my favorite cookbook authors, Dorie Greenspan, called Banana, Raisin, and Oatmeal Pancakes.

Growing up, we never really made batter from scratch.  It either came from a box of Bisquick or Maple Grove Farms but they were still delicious!  At my mom’s we typically had waffles but at my dad’s it was mostly pancakes, especially on Sunday mornings before heading off to church.  Being part of a big family I saw that everyone has their own way of topping and eating their pancakes.   My dad loves to douse his in butter and maple syrup (100% Pure Vermont Maple Syrup) devouring them so quickly the pancakes don’t even have a chance to become soggy with all of that syrup.  My stepmom, Tracey, goes another route by spreading hers with jelly, preferably strawberry.  I like pure maple syrup as well but I like to put a little bit on as I go.  This way the pancakes never have a chance to get soggy.  Finally, if you’re like my nephew and you’re only 2 ½ years old and are still working on your silverware skills then dipping is the way to go.  His pancakes or waffles or French toast, whatever is available that morning, is cut into tiny pieces and served alongside a bowl of maple syrup (his can be the fake stuff, he’s not too picky) and he goes along dipping his breakfast into the sugary goodness.

I really like any kind of pancake but these were especially yummy.  It was like eating an oatmeal raisin cookie for breakfast!  Of course I wanted to make these a little healthier so I tweaked the recipe just slightly.  You could also play around with the ingredients; maybe toss in some nuts or chocolate chips…oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, yum!  I also decided to change up my usual maple syrup topping with a warm blueberry sauce I made from scratch.  Paired with my morning Hazelnut coffee, this breakfast is one I know I will be making again in the near future.

Banana, Raisin, and Oatmeal Pancakes
Makes about 12
Adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients:
•    1 cup old-fashioned oats
•    1 cup all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
•    1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
•    1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
•    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•    1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•    3/4 cup plain yogurt (I used fat free Greek yogurt)
•    3/4 cup whole milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
•    2 large eggs
•    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•    2 ripe bananas, mashed
•    1 cup raisins
•    1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted (I only used an 1/8 cup (1/4 stick))

Directions:

1. Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk yogurt, milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl to blend. Whisk dry ingredients into yogurt mixture just until blended. Fold in mashed bananas, raisins, and 1/4 cup melted butter.
2. Spray nonstick griddle or skillet with Pam; heat over medium heat. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto griddle. Cook pancakes until bubbles form on top and bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn pancakes over and cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes.
3. Keep pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven while you finish cooking all of the pancakes.

Note: Once my bananas start to go bad I'm not always ready to use them in a recipe so I throw them in a large Ziploc bag, with the peel, and store them in the freezer.  When I'm ready to use them I let them defrost on the counter for a few hours or if I need them immediately like I did this morning I defrosted them in the microwave for about 3-5 minutes.  They come out pretty mushy so you don't have to mash them like you typically would.

Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup water

 Directions:

1.  Combine blueberries and water in saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until some of the water has evaporated and left you with a slightly thick blueberry sauce, approximately 5-10 minutes.
3. Feel free to add sugar or spices but I felt the blueberries were sweet enough on their own.