Over-Ripened Bananas? Banana Pancakes!

We had over-ripened bananas in the kitchen. Every time that happens, Mom eventually makes banana cake with them -- I say eventually because we sometimes pop the bananas in a bag and then into the freezer.

It was getting a bit monotonous so I tried to think of different ways to use it. Using them in a smoothie is overkill. I couldn't really think of anything but pancakes. So I did a quick search three mornings ago and found this recipe from Pastry Affair.

Banana Pancakes
Adapted from Pastry Affair's Banana Cinnamon Pancakes.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1¼ tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 large egg
2 large over-ripened bananas, mashed
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1½ tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tbsp butter
1 cup of milk


All of the dry ingredients were mixed together in a large bow. Then I mashed the bananas separately in a bowl with a fork. Once that was done, I added the rest of the ingredients -- except the milk -- into the dry ingredients. I mixed everything together and slowly added the milk. That's it.

Mom was getting ready for work and saw what I was up to in the kitchen.

"What are you making? Banana cake?" She asked.

"No, I'm making banana pancakes." I answered. "It's not the same."

I heated our griddle to medium-high. While that was doing its thing, I melted a little butter and mixed it with a bit of vegetable oil to raise the burning temperature of the butter. We love to cook pancakes with butter in our house.


Personally, I like mine almost deep-fried. When you add enough butter-oil to the hot griddle and then add the pancake batter, it should have a crust. I made a small pancake as a tester. I found the pancake a bit too thick so I added a little more milk to the batter.

I was a disappointed in the taste. I mean, they tasted great, but they just tasted like banana cake. The whole point of making banana pancakes was to avoid making banana cake. I have no idea what I was thinking. Even when I read the recipe again, it screams banana cake to me. Womp womp...


Despite the likeness to banana cake, the pancakes were still tasty. I made a warmed up some peanut butter and mixed it with some syrup to make a peanut butter syrup. It was so good! Andrew melted some semi-sweet chocolate with peanut butter for his pancakes. We washed the pancakes down with some cold milk. I was ready for a nap after that.