Summery Tropical Breakfast ~ Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Summer is almost here, and that always makes me crave my favorite tropical flavors to match the warm weather. 🙂

I made these tropical whole wheat pancakes one morning, and now they keep showing up on our weekend breakfast menu! They are very easy and tasty, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. The original recipe was from Bon Appétit magazine. I reduced the recipe by half, although they do reheat fairly well the next morning if you’d like to make a full batch. I used all whole wheat pastry flour instead of mixing it with all purpose flour. (If you would like fluffier pancakes, measure 1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour and use only ½ cup and 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour. But for the healthier version, which is also quite tasty, all whole wheat works very well.) I used skim milk instead of whole, and I also replaced the butter with coconut oil. (One more tropical ingredient! Plus it is a healthier fat.) I didn’t include pecans, as the original recipe called for, but I did chop up some macadamia nuts and tossed them in the batter for a little texture. That seemed to fit the tropical theme better than pecans. 🙂

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Bananas

Adapted from Bon Appétit magazine

Makes about 9 pancakes

3/4 cups and 3 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup skim milk

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 large banana (about), peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 250°F. Place baking sheet in oven. Whisk first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Whisk milk, eggs, and vanilla in medium bowl, then whisk in coconut oil. (It will clump a little when it hits to cool milk, but it will melt again in the pan when cooked.) Stir milk mixture into dry ingredients. Stir in chopped macadamias if using.

Heat large nonstick griddle or skillet over medium heat. For each pancake, drop 1/4 cup batter onto griddle. Arrange 3 banana rounds on each pancake. Cook until brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Repeat with remaining batter and bananas. Serve with syrup.

I recently discovered all natural syrup that we have been using on our pancakes at my house called Sohgave! vanilla maple flavor agave syrup. I don’t like buying the artificial sugar free syrups, so this is a nice alternative if you’d like something other than maple syrup. Very yummy, and it doesn’t leave you with a sugar high like maple syrup can sometimes do.