Banana pancakes are made by mashing those very brown, overripe bananas and adding them to your pancake batter. Need I suggest that walnuts only add to the experience? Small chunks of fruit work nicely, but if it’s canned, be sure to drain it first. Frozen or dried berries are good candidates for pancakes. Craisins are nice. I have not tried raisins, but they might be pretty good with slivered almonds, oatmeal, or honey. I’m not suggesting you try this, because if they don’t come out well, you can’t feed them to the dog. Although, right now I’m thinking of a topping that combines honey, raisins, and slivered almonds. Gee, I’d like that on ice cream, too!
Most grocery shoppers are familiar with Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. In addition to corn muffins, Jiffy also makes raspberry, banana, oatmeal, and apple-cinnamon mixes. For a while we were regular consumers of these flavored muffins, then we just stopped. Of course, we stopped using them after I had stocked up on them. Combine one cup Jiffy with one cup pancake mix, add 1½ cups water, stir, let sit ten minutes, and make your pancakes. One bit of advice: the fruit in Jiffy Muffins isn’t real fruit, it’s fruit-flavored chips. Oh, and another: the pancakes will be sweeter than what you’ve made before.
Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the value of good, plain pancakes. Or buttermilk pancakes. But variety is good for you. Variety is the spice of life. Which reminds me…a dash of nutmeg, a bit of cinnamon, a little ginger…any or all of these together can go into your pancakes to give them a little pizzazz. If you don’t know what pizzazz is, you’re too young to be reading this.
Don’t add anything you wouldn’t normally eat; you know that’s a disaster in the making. Check your cabinets and freezer for little bits of things that aren’t enough in themselves, but would complement pancakes. Coconut? Sure! Whole oats? Absolutely. The key is to stay on board. Huh? Well, don’t go overboard; use no more than ¼ cup of fruit or nuts to a cup of batter.
With all this experimenting, I have never made pancakes Chip wouldn’t eat. I may have said, “they’re okay but I wouldn’t want them again,” but nothing was inedible. And none ever made us sick. It’s like I said, variety is the spice of pancakes.
Article comments
1 - Lisa McKay
Miss Bob, thanks for sharing your hard-won pancake secrets. My husband is the pancake chef in our house, and I may try to get him to put some oatmeal into the batter every now and then -- I like that idea!
2 - Joanne Huspek
I wish there were a lo-fat pancake...
3 - Miss Bob Etier
Joanne, there are lots of recipes for low-fat pancakes. Just Google "low fat pancakes" and you'll be surprised at how many! --Bob E.