Banana Choco-chip Pancakes

Pancakes. You know how I love them. I'm sure you remember that from the Lemon cranberry pancakes I had made earlier. And I love Banana. Remember my gorgeous Banana Cake?! I wanted to combine them both to make me some pancakes! 

Its been long since I made those. 

No, I haven't stayed away from pancakes for that long. I'm human after all. 

Yes, I keep making them like once a month maybe. I can't stand the buckwheat or bran or whatever healthy stuff they make it up with so I stick to the regular cast of flour and butter and eggs. Which is why I try and have them once in a while. 

And don't be mislead by me. When I'm not cutting into those syrup laden fluffy pancakes, I indulge in a doughnut or a cake or a cookie. 

Hold on, this isn't a confession box, is it?! Don't you know me already! I'm one of those people who try and eat healthy and then slip up about twice during the week. The only problem is I merely have to inhale food. Are you one of those too- inhale food and pile on the weight?! Damn metabolism! 

Anyhooo... I didn't mean to make you feel guilty even before you had a chance to taste these. I mean these pancakes are absolutely ridonkulousy incredibly good. Their texture is what I look for in the pancakes everywhere. Sheer perfection is the only word that comes to mind. Fluffy, soft, spongy and light. And their taste, I mean the classic combination of banana and chocolate chips, makes my heart sing with joy! So worth the calories they come with! You please go ahead and substitute the flour as you will. Use whole wheat if it makes you feel better, use buckwheat if it helps you sleep easy at night, or go flour free if you want to. Even leave out the eggs if you are into eggless pancakes. But IF you are a pancake puritan like me, just give into this recipe and live your life as God intended you to! Trust me. Here we go. 

Serves: 2

Time taken: 20 mins

Complexity: **

You'll need

2 tbsp butter, softened / melted (preferably salted)

2 tbsp light brown sugar (use white is brown is unavailable)

1 banana, preferably with a spotty peel

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cup flour

1 heaped tsp of baking powder

3/4th cup of milk + couple tbsp

2/3rd cup or 4-5 tbsp of dark semi sweet chocolate chips

pinch of love

Method

In a bowl, add in the butter and sugar together. Use white sugar by all means, I prefer brown sugar for that extra depth of flavour it adds and make everything taste caramel-y. 

In a separate bowl, break your banana into smaller pieces. The ripeness of the banana can be concluded by the spottiness on the banana peel. And the sweeter the banana, the better your pancakes will taste. 

With a fork, mash them all till they turn into a puree like this. Baby food, blechh. Just add that to the butter and sugar and combine it all together. 

The butter/ sugar/ banana mix all ready. Make sure that there are no major banana lumps there. 

Crack open an egg and add some vanilla to the mix. I always use vanilla when I add eggs. I think its a psychological thing because I don't want to smell the eggs in any of my desserts. You can totally give the vanilla a miss but I don't know why you'd want to.

Dump in the flour and the baking powder on to the mix. Also add in the chocolate chips to the mix. Just begin to fold this with the wet ingredients in the bowl. 

When everything starts to clump together, slowly pour the milk in a steady stream as you continue to whisk everything together. Don't add all the milk altogether in the mix. Sometimes you need a little more, sometimes you need a little less for that perfect batter consistency. The batter should not be very thick or thin and if there are tiny lumps in there, its okay. Don't worry about them. And please forgive my air headed-ness. I totally forgot to click a picture till the time I poured the last of my batter and then realised I had no picture of the pancake batter. Yikes! 

Next have your griddle or pan or skillet heating on a medium heat. I like to make pancakes on the tiniest amount of butter. You can use oil or that non stick spray to prevent the pancakes from sticking in the skillet. Spoon over some pancake mix in the pan. The batter usually gives me 4 pancakes of about 4" in diameter. Pretty sizeable I'd say. 

When one side is cooked, you'll see bubbles forming on the top surface, flip the pancake over carefully. about 30 seconds more on this one and then flip. 

Look its perfectly golden on the other side. The chocolate chips have melted into the pancake- just how I like it! And there is a subtle sweet aroma of bananas caramelising in the air. Mmmmmmmmm I know my day's going to be awesome! 

Pile on the pancakes and chop some bananas over them and scatter some chocolate chips or some butter. I just went with plain ole syrup and my scrumptious breakfast was ready! 

A tower of unabandonned happiness (is that even a word?!) Who cares?! I was singing with joy. 

And I slices into the fluffiness .......and those melted chocolate chips

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." I didn't mean to quote Keats on you but I couldn't help it. This pancake has made its way in my heart forever and ever n ever. 

Indulge!