Buttermilk pancakes with caramelised bananas and brazil nuts

I love a pancake on a weekend. It’s been a snowy weekend in Glasgow so it’s been lovely having the family around the table having hot coffee and tasty pancakes. I’ve recently been experimenting with baby pancakes, or American pancakes, rather than my usual crepes. So I thought I’d make it a bit special and add some tasty caramelised fruit and nuts. If you like bananas then you will LOVE this lovely combination of maple syrup, sticky bananas and caramel nuts. I’ve adapted this recipe slightly from a James Martin recipe which was featured in BBCGoodFood’s December 2009 issue.

Baby buttermilk pancakes with sticky bananas and caramelised brazil nuts

Serves 4 | Prep 15 minutes | Cook 35 minutes | Difficulty Easy, a bit of effort

Ingredients

• 175g plain flour;
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt;
• 1/2 tsp baking powder;
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda;
• 1 tbsp caster sugar;
• 2 eggs, separated;
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract;
• 25g butter + a bit of extra to cook the pancakes;
• 200ml buttermilk;
• 100ml milk.

For the caramelised nuts and bananas;

• 140g caster sugar;
• 100g Brazil nuts, very roughly chopped;
• 2 ripe bananas; thickly sliced into chunks;
• 200ml maple syrup.

Serve with: yogurt, crème fraîche or whipped cream.

Method:

1. Melt the butter in the pan where you will cook the pancakes and let it cool a bit. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar. Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract, melted butter, buttermilk and milk and mix until smooth with a mixer or by hand. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are soft and have formed floppy peaks, then fold into the batter – be careful not to overmix it so you don’t lose the fluffiness of the mix.
2. Re-heat the pan until hot, add a bit more butter if needed. Using a small ladle, our in the batter to make pancakes about 10cm in diameter. Cook for about 1 min until the tops are set and little holes appear on the surface. Flip the pancakes over, brown lightly on the other side, then transfer to a plate and keep warm in a low-heated oven. Repeat with the remaining batter, stacking the pancakes as they are cooked, and adding butter to the pan, if required.
3. To serve, pour the sugar into a mixing bowl and toss the Brazil nuts and bananas through it. Tip into a pan, heat through to melt the sugar, then toss together as everything begins to caramelise. When the nuts and bananas are golden brown, remove from the heat and stir in the maple syrup. When serving, pile up the pancakes on plates, and spoon over some of the nut and banana mix. You can serve with whipped cream, yogurt or crème fraîche, if liked. Whipped cream is my go to!

Original recipe at BBCGoodFood.

Hope you enjoy making those! If you make them, let me know how you get on 🙂

~Em