Banana Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup

One of my all time favourite combinations, peanut butter and banana is a well known pair for sandwiches. However, as a pancake combination it is a bit more rare. When I woke up Sunday morning I had already planned on making banana pancakes. My childhood favourite, my dads specialty, banana pancakes was a staple of Sunday breakfasts growing up. However, while flicking around various recipes, I stumbled upon a recipe for peanut butter syrup. How could I resist? I absolutely had to try it. So I whipped up a batch for the whole family and tested it out.

First of all, there is the actual pancakes. I know some people like to mash the bananas and stir them into the batter. I've never actually tried this, and for the purpose of a future blog I suppose I will give it a shot. But not this time. No, I always slice my bananas into the batter. I find the chunks enjoyable and parts of the banana that protrude from the batter caramelize on the griddle, bringing out a really nice sweetness from the banana. The pancake recipe I used was alright, but not fantastic. The pancakes had nice flavour, and weren't too dense. However, the batter was quite runny, and produced very thin pancakes. It would probably do better with less milk, or perhaps a thicker milk (I used 1% on this occasion). The bananas tasted fantastic and weren't too overpowering.

Then we come to the peanut butter syrup. A very quick, simple recipe, with amazing results. The syrup was absolutely delicious. Not too sweet, not too salty, just the right peanut butter flavour, while staying true to the pancake syrup tradition. The syrup was such a hit in my household, my daughter had to be stopped from licking it off her pancakes. It paired wonderfully with the bananas. Elvis would approve.

Banana Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup

Pancake ingredients
1 banana, sliced
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp vanilla

Syrup ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 maple syrup

Directions
1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, combine egg, milk, vanilla and vegetable oil.
3. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk together.
4. Stir in the banana slices.
5. Pour 1/4 cup of dough for each batch onto greased skillet and cook each pancake for about 1-2 minutes per side.
6. In a small pot, combine peanut butter and maple syrup. Whisk over medium-low heat, until well mixed. Serve warm.

Enjoy,

- Jack