Banana chocolate chip flaxseed pancakes

Everyone in my family adores these pancakes, with their sweet banana flavor and melty chocolate chips. The only pancakes that don’t give me the lead-belly feeling that other pancakes do.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (can also use kefir, or plain yogurt diluted with milk – also see regular milk variation below)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 ripe or overripe banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Regular milk variation

• 1 1/4 cups milk (instead of buttermilk)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (NO baking soda)

Directions

1. In a bowl mix flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a separate bowl mix buttermilk, maple syrup, egg and vanilla, if using. (Buttermilk or yogurt/milk makes thicker pancakes than the regular milk variation.)
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Add mashed banana. Stir until combined but do not overmix.
4. Heat skillet on medium heat and add light coating of butter or oil to pan.
5. Using small ladle or 1/4 c measuring cup, pour pancake batter to form individual rounds. Turn heat to low. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of pancakes (about 4-5 per pancake works for me).
6. When bubbles start to appear on the surface of the batter, use spatula to flip pancake.
7. Cook until golden brown (watch carefully, as the second side cooks more quickly than the first). If you find the pancake gets too dark before it cooks through, turn the heat down a bit.
8. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Serves 4.

Notes

• Yogurt-milk substitution: depending on the thickness of your yogurt, you might use 1/2 yogurt, 1/2 milk, or more yogurt and less milk if your yogurt is runny to start. The recipe will work just as well either way, but the thicker your liquid, the thicker your pancakes will be.
• The key to pancakes is tweaking the temperature. Too little heat, and they take forever to cook. Too much heat, and they burn before they cook through. The right temperature is perfectly golden.
• You can cover and refrigerate leftover batter to use within a day or so. Just give it a good stir before you use it again, in case some liquid separates out.
• Blueberries are also great with the banana pancakes, instead of chocolate chips.

Here’s the link back to the post and pictures.