Double Chocolate Banana Pillow Pancakes

I do like chocolate. And in the parlance unique to all chocolate lovers… um… What about double chocolate? Yesterday morning, there was a lapse in self-control. These pancakes aren’t exactly the healthiest, but they sure are the most Sunday morning-esque, and that’s the most important thing, because a certain rainy day and time on your hands demands a lush, thick stack. Sometimes I’m partial to the whole almond-milk-and-oats sort of thing, but this particular lapse in the system of fairytale strength made me put whole milk, whole eggs, and good, rich chocolate on the counter at 6am in the morning.

Didn’t look back. Can’t look back. I keep swooning over my favouritest thick, fluffy buttermilk pillow pancakes, and ever since I can’t bear to experiment with any other pancake recipe. I can’t bring myself to attempt anything off-standard. They’re magical and fluffy and pillowy; the best ones you will attempt in your lifetime. And life is so incredibly short. These are a double chocolate and banana version, with cocoa in the dry ingredients, banana in the wet, and stuffed with dark chocolate chips (use chunks if you will for full-on pleasure). The picture above shows a sweet little stack of 4 crowned with glorious, gooey, sticky cashew butter, maple syrup, and topped with a king-sized piece of dark chocolate, which melts along with the cashew butter and makes the whole bloody breakfast a fudgy and delectable brown-and-white mess. Any sort of nut butter is highly recommended, for its rich stickiness clings to the tender surface of each pancake and ups the goo-and-fudge factor considerably. Mmmm. Rich yet soft, sporadically studded with pockets of melting chocolate. Mandatory maple syrup. Double Chocolate Banana Pancakes (makes around 10 medium, or 8 large pancakes)

Ingredients

175g (slightly less than 1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

30g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

3 tbsp white sugar

pinch salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

240ml (1 cup) milk of choice (I used whole)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 banana, mashed

50g unsalted butter, melted in the microwave (in 30-second increments), and a little more for the pan

large handful of chocolate chips or chunks (to your own discretion)

Directions

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt, sugar and both leavening agents into a large bowl. Whisk everything together well to ensure proper dispersion. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla extract, mashed banana, honey and melted buttter. Pour the wet mix into the dry and slowly mix together until just combined. The mix will be thick and lumpy.

Heat your pan or griddle on medium heat. It’s hot enough when you add a little butter and it sizzles audibly. Using a tablespoon measurement or a light hand with a quarter-cup measurement, pour circles of batter into the pan. Make sure there’s at least an inch of space between each dollop, because these enlarge significantly after flipping. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on the surface of each pancake (my own pan can only take 2 pancakes at a go), then take your spoon again and spoon more batter on top. The thickness of the batter means the bubbles won’t show up as quickly, so after 2 minutes check the bottom doneness with a spatula, and if it can slide easily underneath, give the pancakes a flip. The second side takes hardly any time at all, so wait less than a minute before removing and placing on a towel (to absorb condensation). Serve with nut butter, maple syrup and fruit, or whipped cream and maple syrup, or whatever the hell you want, really.

You can make all 8-10 pancakes before everyone is up for breakfast, just make sure to microwave them or place them in a warm oven for a while before serving. Place uneaten pancakes in a ziploc bag and into the fridge. They reheat beautifully, and are there whenever you want.

Posted on June 8, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 2

Matcha and Vanilla Banana Pancakes

It just demanded variation. Make it shine in a different light. I’m talking about my favourite ever recipe for supremely thick and fluffy pancakes. When I wrote that post, I found it hard to deliver the goods without feeling as if nothing I typed could truly justify how impressed I was with the outcome. The same may be said for these.

I modified the base batter a little, added matcha powder to half of it, and incorporated mashed banana into the wet ingredients. Result: Fantabulous, and that’s saying something, because I hate that word but somehow its gaudy talkshow-esque nature fits the bill here.

I talked enough about how wonderfully soft and fluffy and phenomenal these pancakes are (click the link above!!), so enough talk, more action now.

Matcha and Vanilla Banana Pancakes (makes 10-11 medium-sized pancakes)

Ingredients

188g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp white sugar

1 banana, mashed

2 heaping tsp green tea (matcha) powder

generous pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

50g unsalted butter (slightly less than 4 tbsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp honey

240ml (1 cup) milk of choice

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and leavening agents). In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in a microwave and set it aside, letting it cool for a couple of minutes. In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, honey, mashed banana and melted butter.

For this recipe which makes both vanilla and matcha pancakes, both the dry and wet mixes must be halved. My dry mix totalled to 210g, so I put half of that (105g) into a separate empty bowl. To one of the dry mix bowls, whisk in the matcha powder. Do the same for the wet mix (I weighed that too and found that half of the wet mix totalled to 200g, however only 180g of the liquid mixture needed to be added to the dry in order to achieve the perfect consistency). You should have 4 bowls– 2 dry and 2 wet, with one of the dry mix bowls containing the matcha powder. Pour the wet mixes into the respective dry mix bowls, and stir slowly with a metal or wooden spoon until justt combined, which means there will still be a few lumps, but no more streaks of flour. The batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy.

Preheat your pan on medium heat and ready some butter. You know the pan is hot enough when you flick a little water onto its surface and there’s a clear sizzle. At that point, generously butter the pan and ladle around a quarter cup (you might not need all of it) of batter. Shape if needed to form a nice circle. Wait for just a few little craters to form on the surface before flipping, which will take a couple of minutes. I didn’t have to wait for bubbles to pop before flipping; the batter is thicker than usual and there’s no need to wait. Flip the pancakes when you notice the edges stiffening a little, or when you can slide your spatula whole underneath the bottom of the pancake. It will rise a little upon flipping, as if that action gives it life, and hence, breath. The surface should have that familiar brown mosaic. Once the second side is done (will take no more than half a minute, usually), let cool on a paper towel or in a warm oven. As mentioned above, these freeze wonderfully, so you can make a whole batch, have one or a couple and stash the rest in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Et voila.

Posted on June 2, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

Banana Oat Pancakes with Cashew Sauce (eggless, flourless, easy!)

We are drowning in information, but starving for wisdom.

This was the heading for an article I read this morning, and although its meaning and intention had nothing to do with the thoughts that flickered through my head (the merits of a liberal arts education) upon first seeing the quote, there is definitely an implication that resonates with me. This is all a little random, but I do feel as if more should be shared on this space than just the occasional recipe or review. Heck, it’s why I love the Internet. Variety underpins sensory awareness, exposure, curiosity. One reason why I love blogging about food is because I don’t see the stuff as merely something to eat, but as complex edible objects which hide more abstract, profound meanings, relevant to little aspects of our everyday lives. I remember to take things a little slowly when spreading soft, salted butter on my toast, the pale creaminess reassuring. A sticky, sweet medjool date makes me lose myself just for a second. Pause. Ponder. It sounds silly, I know. Is it just me?

Information, and so much of it, is the nexus of the 21st century. But though it’s everywhere, in the form of the news or the hippest TV series or the next best recipe (oh, just you wait), wisdom is rare. It may be argued that the accumulation of knowledge naturally leads to this to this point of discernment and judgement. I like to think of it as a meal: the info is the appetiser, the formulation of opinion or analytical discussion comprise the main course. The dessert, further debate, perhaps division or (!) discovery. But the intriguing bit lies in the waiting time between appetiser and main course. Our information thresholds, where we draw the line between absorption of the world around us and internal debate. I like that thought; it’s interesting to consider just how different our thought processes are. As we prowl possibility, awaken a hidden psyche. That is what leads to understanding and progression. I’m guilty of being a robot sometimes, to squander away time doing meaningless activity, to have stuff go in one ear and come out the other. I mean hey, it’s ok to be a vegetable! It is, sometimes. I just think it more necessary in this current day and age to be that much more perceptive, instead of gulping air, nodding, regurgitating.

I shall now introduce you to my new favourite pancake recipe: Eggless, flourless, practically everything-less (vegan readers, you there?) banana oat pancakes, with a decadent cashew sauce. I should like to clarify the name of the sauce here; I say cashew because I’m currently going through a serious, unrelenting vanilla cashew butter phase, and the cashew butter is the primary component of the sauce, but really you can use any nut butter you have lying around. It is the tang of this sauce, thanks to the yoghurt, coupled with the naturally sweet, earthy nature of these glorious pancakes, and milkier aftertaste of the cashews, which makes it the most divine breakfast for days on end.

I like making normal pancakes, I do. You know, with actual flour, eggs, the whole motley crew. They’re easy easy easy, and the recipe is just standard stuff after a few goes.

But these. These! I couldn’t believe how sweet, fluffy and flavourful these pancakes turned out to be! When I first starting experimenting with healthy, or at least healthier ingredients, I was incredibly skeptical of the turnout. They would never taste or look as good, I bet on my life, I always thought. I associated things like wheatgrass and acai and oat flour with the life of a poor rabbit. How wrong I was. How terribly wrong. The ripe banana here makes these naturally, not overly sweet, and if you are inclined to leave a few chunks in the batter then you get nice pockets of cooked, sweet banana in your breakfast. The oat flour makes it all folksy, almost cultured, and using it for the first time in pancakes brought to mind thatched countryside roofs and battered wheat and yoga. It brought me down to earth, and it always feels good to treat my body well, to give the french toast and white/fancy breads a break.

Banana Oat Pancakes with Cashew Sauce (makes 5 4-inch wide pancakes)

For the pancakes:

2 small or 1.5 medium bananas, the riper the better

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp yoghurt (or sour cream)

4 tbsp almond milk (or any milk of choice)

1 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil, or melted butter)

60g oat flour (I ground 60g rolled oats in a blender, so there’s really no need to buy oat flour. It takes a mere couple of minutes to grind em up into a fine flour.)

1.5 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

For the sauce:

1 tablespoon cashew butter (or any nut butter of choice)

1 tbsp yoghurt

1 tsp honey (or maple syrup)

Preheat a pan on medium heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, salt and baking powder. In another medium bowl, mash the bananas, then mix in the remaining wet ingredients. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mix, and use a large spoon or spatula to slowly incorporate everything until just combined.

Drizzle a little coconut or vegetable oil to the preheated pan, and, using a tablespoon, ladle on enough batter to make a circle around 4 inches wide. This part is completely up to you; make them as big or as small as you want. Cook the first side for around 2 minutes/ You’ll notice the edges firming up and turning a slightly darker colour than the middle, and that’s when you should take a spatula and slide it under the whole pancake in preparation to flip. If it shakes or wobbles too much on top, let it cook for a while longer. After flipping, cook the second side for around 30 seconds, for the pancake itself is already mostly cooked by this point. Let the cooked pancakes rest on a paper towel while you finish up the rest of the batter, or in an oven preheated to 160C if you wish to consume everything immediately.

Make the sauce! In a small bowl, mix the 3 ingredients listed above. The consistency should be on the thicker side, but not gloopy and unmanageable. To serve, stack a few pancakes on top of each other, top with the nut butter sauce and fresh fruit. The pancakes are naturally very sweet so I don’t think maple syrup or honey necessary, but go ahead if you feel like it. Pancake eaters do what instinct tells em to.

These pancakes freeze very well. After cooking and letting rest on a paper towel for around 5 minutes, transfer those which you’re not eating immediately into a ziploc bag, laying them in a single flat layer. Pop in the freezer, and whenever you’re in the pancake mood, take however many you want out and microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Posted on April 23, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 2

Breakfast Special: Try This Now

The gap in your knowledge must be filled. Certain Eureka! moments cannot, must not cease to be conveyed to the masses (however small my audience is; don’t want to sound all high and mighty here). I like discoveries and surprises, be it with regard to random tidbits of information I come across on the net or in books, or when I put two and two together in the kitchen and suddenly I get five but it works. Unless you dislike bananas or yoghurt or, well, butternut squash (sigh), I’m (almost) on my knees begging you to put the three together.

What you see above, friends, is really a simple construction: a thick slice of the bestest, moistest, chocolate chip banana bread cut in half and stacked, topped with homemade butternut squash candy puree (oh you just wait), drizzled with plain yoghurt, and a crumbled leftover brownie. I have already posted the recipe for two of those components, the only thing left is the squash candy purée. I learnt the recipe from a family member, after watching her cook the stuff and label it a ‘Filipino delight’. It was a little hard to adapt this because she doesn’t measure anything, however after just one spoonful of the delightful stuff, I can see why she does it the way she does– it’s all according to taste, and how sweet your butternut squashes are in the first place. What you get is a rich, thick, sweet plateful of orange purée. It’s like a healthy orh nee, or yam paste, but with a distinct squash flavour and undertones of coconut!

You may find the recipes for the moist banana bread (the recipe yields a plain loaf, but I threw in a cup of chocolate chips for extra goo and decadence; the chocolate also makes the perfect pairing with the banana here) and the brownie here and here. The brownie recipe was written to incorporate an additional cream cheese swirl, but I used salted caramel in place of that this time. Bits and bobs of sweet, salty goo. You may also leave that out, or you may wish to leave out the brownie component altogether, which would be just as sublime (see pictures right above).

Butternut Squash Candy Purée (makes enough for 2 servings)

one large butternut squash

240ml water

200-240ml coconut milk

3-5 tablespoons of light/dark brown sugar (range is due to difference in taste and the natural sweetness of the butternut squash you have on hand)

half teaspoon of salt

In a heavyset saucepan, add the water, salt and butternut squash, turn on the heat and let everything come to a boil. This will take around 10-15 minutes. Once boiled and the butternut squash is soft and tender, use a large spoon or potato masher and mash the butternut squash in with the water. Reduce the heat a little to medium and add the coconut milk once most of the water has evaporated. At this point, add however much sugar you want, according to taste. Mix on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and smooth. Pour into a container and let cool before serving. I personally think this is best served cold, so if you wish, make this a day ahead and scoop it right out of the fridge the following morning.

Assembly: Take one slice of moist banana bread, top with the cold (or hot) squash purée, then drizzle on some plain yoghurt (vanilla or Greek works well), and top with broken bits of brownie.

Posted on April 9, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

Banana cardamom rolls

I almost detonated when I saw the news headlines 2 days ago concerning the murder of freelance journalist Kenji Goto.

So many grotesque or inhumane things occur nowadays that most of us have been rendered practically immune to their effects. This murder in particular, despite its obvious malice, was probably expected. Abe went from stoic to emotional in no time, but the inevitable couldn’t be prevented. Beheadings and carnal torture methods are still being used around the globe. Violence is fought by violence, two fires igniting and ultimately, doing nothing. One side may be susceptible, perhaps a little forgiving, but sometimes that only stirs the impatience of the other party. There is no win-win situation, is there? Such malice is beyond comprehension. ISIS, in contrast to the USA’s initial certainty of its containment, is still evolving, affecting, blighting freedom of speech. Killing. Us humans, ultimately, have regressed. It’s back to the French Revolution again. Where are the guilliotines on the streets? If we aren’t the bad guys, we’re the onlookers who can’t do anything but sit back and squirm. I wonder when a balance will prevail.

Alright now. I made banana chocolate cinnamon rolls two months ago using a blog link I thought I trusted. The dough itself turned out ok, however it just didn’t possess the most desirably degree of fluffiness of brioche-like tenderness of crumb. The tops were a little too hard, and a knock sounded hollow. Something had to change, right?

First thing’s first. This recipe involves overnight proofing, which makes it easy for you if you want to chuck this in the oven first thing in the morning and have something sweet and comforting for breakfast. On the weekend, probably, when you won’t feel too guilty. You whip up the dough the day before, let it proof a while, roll and fix your little buns in a nice little tray, then throw it in the fridge. All that time taken is so worth it.

I’m lucky to have a stash of spices around the house. When I saw the box of cardamom, unground, waiting, I knew I had to do something with the stuff. Anyways, I had never experimented with cardamom before. I wanted to keep the main idea of banana and cinnamon, but in order to keep the purity of flavour of cardamom in tact, I decided to forgo the chocolate. That being said, after the process of rolling and spreading the filling, please do feel free to add chocolate chips or chunks. Not a lot of cardamom is ground and used to produce a subtle yet effective aroma, so the addition of chocolate would be complementary, not distracting.

The key to the soft, tender crumb, light and springy, is in the length of time taken to both knead and proof. When I first tried making cinnamon rolls (the traditional sort choked in cream cheese icing), I couldn’t get my head around the slogging away with my poor hands at the counter, and baked them just a little too soon, when the dough wasn’t robust. Sticky, but not worked at enough. Thankfully, I know much better now. This recipe, which I adapted from the lovely Smitten Kitchen, yields rolls which are fluffy, yet have sufficient body and weight to grant themselves the proper title of ‘roll’. For what is a roll without the keen addition of air (and a ton of butter)? In her original dough recipe, she first stirs the batter in a bowl, before turning it out to properly knead by hand (or you can use a kneading machine). Here, I decided to do it all in the bowl, to prevent precious batter getting stuck between my fingers and washed away. I knew I was taking a risk to prevent an episode of sad farewell, but it all paid off. I used a simple vanilla icing, though these may also be made with your favourite cream cheese icing recipe. The banana, which is mashed together with butter as the base filling, addresses the cardamom amicably, not letting it overpower, providing comforting flavour and a nice gooey touch alongside the strong spice. Some of the banana will touch the bottom and melt in the heat of the oven, so bits of the bottom will get all caramelised and crackly. Isn’t that the best thing in the world? I think so.

Actually, if you like crusty tops and sides in general, then I implore you to read on.

Banana cardamom rolls (makes 6-7, adapted from here. Recipe can be doubled for 12 buns)

Dough:

1 egg and 1 egg yolk

25g white caster sugar

45g melted butter

4g instant yeast

235g all-purpose flour

half teaspoon salt

85ml whole milk, or almond/rice/soy/skim

Filling, from previous improvisations:

half tablespoon ground cinnamon

75g brown sugar

30g room temperature butter

1tsp ground cardamom (I used a mini mortar and pestle to do this)

1 small, ripe banana, or half a large one, mashed

Icing

100g powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp whole milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

pinch salt

In a large bowl, whisk the egg, egg yolk, sugar, butter and milk together. Mix the yeast, flour and salt (make sure yeast and salt are on separate sides of the bowl) in another smaller bowl.

Add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir with a wooden spoon. Stir just to combine at first, then with a little more vigour once the dough comes together. Stir and beat the mix for around 5 minutes. The dough will be extremely sticky! But do not fret. That is what you want. Take a short break here, then continue ‘kneading’ for a couple more minutes, in the bowl with your spoon. I kneaded for a total of 8 minutes, no more and no less. After kneading, the dough should be pale yellow, and very resistant to further fiddling. Stretchy, glutinous, strong, and still very sticky.

Take dough out of the bowl and put into a clean bowl, oiled or sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Let this rise for 2 hours.

In the meantime, make the filling. Mix the mashed banana and butter together in a small bowl, then mix the cinnamon, ground cardamom and brown sugar in another. Butter/spray a 9×9-inch baking pan or 9-inch circular pan (for cheesecakes/normal cakes etc).

After 2 hours, take the proofed dough from the bowl and press into a 9×6-inch rectangle on a lightly flour-dusted counter. If you’re doubling the recipe, press it into an 18×12-inch rectangle. Take the mashed banana and butter mix and spread on the dough, making sure not to layer it on too thick, and leaving a centimetre untouched frame along the sides. Sprinkle on the cinnamon, brown sugar and cardamom. At the point, you may wish to add chocolate chips or chopped nuts. Gently roll the dough from the long edge to form a 9-inch cylinder. Using a serrated knife, saw the log into 1-1.5-inch sections. I managed to squeeze 7 from this batch. Put the sections into your baking pan. Cover with cling film or a towel and pop into the fridge overnight, or up to 16 hours.

20 minutes before baking the next morning, remove the pan from the fridge to let them warm up a little. Heat oven to 177C (350F), and position the middle rack. Bake the buns for 27-30 minutes. Mine took 28 minutes. Halfway into the baking time, cover the buns with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent them over-browning or burning. During this time, mix all the icing ingredients together, then go ahead and make yourself a cup of tea whilst browsing the papers. Once the buns emerge, let cool on a cooling rack. The absolute best thing about these buns is that they actually take a very short time to cool down, so you can have one straight out the oven (like me). Drizzle the icing over one to enjoy first, then drizzle the remaining icing over the other buns half an hour later, once they’re fully cool, so the icing won’t melt all over the place.

Ah, mornings.

Posted on February 4, 2015February 21, 2022 by alexcrumb 0

alexcrumb

recipes, catering, creativity