Banoffee Pancakes
Delicious, sticky caramel, banana and yogurt sandwiched between soft, light pancakes. Prepare yourself for a plate full of wholesome decadence!
This recipe is perfect for a pancake day pudding but its also very much suited to breakfast. It’s gluten free, oil free and naturally sweetened. You’ll need a food processor or blender to make your oats into oat flour and to blend your caramel ingredients, but otherwise there’s no special skill or apparatus required.
Oats, dates and banana make this recipe fibre rich and we have goodies like omega 3 (from the flax) and an array of vitamins and minerals sneaking in there for good measure.
But enough of that. You’re here for the pancakes and so am I. And the caramel.
I recommend making the caramel first as you’ll want to have it ready to slap on your pancakes as soon as they’re hot and ready. It takes a little time to make and it’s up to you what consistency you go for. You can either spend about 10 minutes stirring it over the hob to make a runny sauce, or you can allow it to thicken into a spreadable caramel which takes around 20 minutes. I find it quite meditative watching the mixture thicken and change colour to a deep, rich bronze. I hope you get some pleasure out of the process too!
The caramel recipe makes more than you will need for the pancakes, but since you’re going to all the effort, I think it’s worth making extra to enjoy during the week. If you want to make just enough for the pancakes, you should be ok with half the recipe (and the cooking time will be about half). Leftovers can be stored in the fridge. Try dunking chunks of apple in it or adding a dollop to your porridge.
If you’re not a banana fan, you’ll still need to include the mashed banana in the pancake as it’s what holds everything together in place of eggs which we aren’t using. The pancakes themselves don’t taste strongly of banana, especially when slathered in the caramel spread. Of course, feel free to omit the banana chunks or swap them for your favourite fruit. Apple would be pretty special.
Ingredients
For the pancakes (makes approx 6)
1 tablespoon ground flaxmeal
2.5 tablespoons water
1 ripe banana - mashed
1 tablespoon almond butter (or any nut or seed butter)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup plant milk of choice (I use soya)
150g oat flour (blend any oats in flour using a blender/food processor) - use certified GF if necessary
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
For the date caramel (makes extra - see my notes earlier)
1 cup dates
1 cup hot water
2 tablespoon almond butter (for nut free, use seed butter of choice)
1 cup plant milk of choice (I use soya)
2 tablespoon maple syrup (oprional - adds flavour)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder
Large pinch of sea salt
Other toppings
sliced bananas
plain or vanilla soya yogurt
melted chocolate for drizzling (optional)
Method
To make the caramel
place all of the ingredients into a blender (double check there are no stones in the dates!) and blend into a smooth creamy mixture.
Transfer to a medium sized saucepan. Stirring continuously, heat over a medium heat until the mixture begins to boil.
Turn the heat down slightly so that the mixture doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan and continue to stir for around 10 minutes for a light runny caramel sauce or for 20 minutes for a thick rich spreadable caramel.
Be careful as this thick and sticky mixture will spit if you don’t tend to it! I wear an oven glove on my stirring hand.
If you’ve gone for the full 20 mins, the mixture will be considerably darker and thicker than when it came out of the blender. Once you’ve reached your desired consistency (put a little on a spoon to test how much it thickens as it cools), turn off the heat but keep stirring for a few more seconds as the pan cools down. Then set aside and make your pancake mixture.
To make the pancakes
Combine the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl or ramekin. Mix and then set aside for about 5 minutes, to become gloopy.
In a mixing bowl, mash your banana well with a fork until only very small lumps remain.
Add in the almond butter and maple syrup and use the fork to combine everything.
Incorporate the flax mixture, vanilla and milk. I prefer to switch to a whisk at this point to bring everything together.
Add the oat flour by sifting it into the bowl (oat flour can be a bit lumpy), followed by the baking powder, cinnamon and salt and whisk until well combined.
Leave the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
Heat a non stick pan until hot. I like to test the pan’s readiness by making a little tester pancake. Plop a little spoonful of mixture into the pan - If it turns golden underneath within a minute or so, your pan should be hot enough.
Use a ladle to spoon around 1/2 cup of batter into the pan. Try to spread the batter into an even circle.
After about 1 minute, the underside should be golden and you should start to see bubbles forming all over the top of the pancake. At this point, you should be able to easily flip it using a flick of the wrist or a spatula depending on how brave you are!
Cook for 1 minute on the other side until browned.
Repeat with the rest of the batter.
To serve, either make a stack of pancakes with caramel, banana, chocolate and yogurt sandwiched in between each one, or work with your pancakes one at a time.