Chocolate chip banana pancakes – Breakfast at Cliqueany’s

I look forward to weekend breakfasts: the leisurely enjoyment of a special meal stands out as a highlight of my week, especially when contrasted with sucking down an English muffin while working on my computer, which is my standard mid-week breakfast.

Another fun part about weekend breakfasts is that they are a group effort: Keith is the pancake man, I’ll bake muffins or get eggs, bacon and sausage ready, and Owen adds the chocolate chips to the pancakes and helps flip them (not to mention we have the only four-year old around who taught his mother how to make coffee!). I love being with my whole family, cooking; it’s the best way I can think of to start my day.

Our standard weekend fare usually includes banana chocolate chip pancakes. For one, I have a bad habit of buying too many bananas, and it’s a great way to use them up; also, we’re addicted to chocolate — what can I say?

So here it is, the secret recipe to making your weekend mornings special.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup sprouted spelt flour (or your flour of choice)
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk (we use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey (optional)
2 ripe mashed bananas
about 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another (save the chocolate chips for the cooking step). Add wet to dry and mix until just moistened. As you cook your pancakes on a pan, griddle or however you do it, pour the batter, add the chips by hand, and press them down a bit. If you don’t, they’ll stick to the pan when you flip. Messy!

This recipe makes about 16 small to medium pancakes.

If you’re a pancake traditionalist, you’ll enjoy Bob Sassone’s post on everything blueberry pancakes. If you want to live a little, these chocolate chip banana dreams will be your new Sunday morning friend.