Jocelyn’s post on banana pancakes got me thinking:  Why in the world have I never made them myself?  I’ve been working on pancakes generally for a while, but it took the addition of banana to make something I liked enough to actually want to cook, instead of just thinking to myself, “I should probably work on pancakes some more.”  So, if you want a basic gluten-free pancake recipe … well, leave the banana and nuts out of this recipe, and it works well enough, it just isn’t anything to write home about (or to write up on its own for this blog!).

In any case, these are pretty good pancakes, if I may say so myself.  🙂  It can take a little while to whip the egg white, mash the banana, and chop the nuts — at least, compared to how long it “normally” takes to make pancake batter — but it’s worth it every time.  As with most things where a banana goes into batter, you’ll want a really overripe one, and you can store them in the freezer till it’s time to defrost and mash ’em.

Banana Walnut Pancakes

Yield:  10-12 pancakes (closer to 10, usually)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dough mix
• 1/8 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/8 tsp guar gum
• 1 tsp baking powder (preferably aluminum-free)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 T sugar
• 1 T butter, softened or cold
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup mashed banana (i.e., 1 usual-size banana, mashed)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1.  In a medium-large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients — dough mix, xanthan gum, guar gum, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Then, using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut in the butter till crumbly.

2.  Defrost your overripe banana in the microwave on a plate, then peel it, and mash it up to a pretty even consistency with a fork, and set aside for a moment.

3.  Separate the egg, keeping both yolk and white in separate bowls.  Set the white aside.  Add the yolk, milk, vanilla, and mashed banana to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, and whisk together till combined.

4.  Using a hand blender, stand mixer with whisk attachment, or immersion blender with whisk attachment, whip the egg white till stiff peaks form.  Gently whisk the egg white into the batter until fully integrated.

5.  Lightly grease a good non-stick skillet and set it on a burner on medium heat to let the pan heat up.  Meanwhile, chop up the walnuts and fold them into the batter.

6.  Pour 1/4-cup-fuls of batter onto the hot skillet.  (If the batter doesn’t spread out quite enough, add just a little milk to thin it.)  Like with “normal” pancakes, they should be ready to flip when all the bubbles that form on the skin of the pancake have popped, and the bottom of the pancake is a nice golden-brown.  (If the pancakes are burned on one side by the time this happens, the pan’s too hot; turn the burner down before you ladle out the next batch.)  Flip the pancakes over with a spatula and cook them on the other side till golden-brown, then move them to a plate to cool a little before being served.

7.  Once you’ve cooked all the batter, tell everybody it’s time to eat!  🙂