CEGS BANANA PANCAKES WITH WARM CHERRIES

( JACK JOHNSON MUSIC OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED)

I cannot think why you wouldn’t want pancakes for breakfast. I would rather enjoy pancakes for dinner too. These banana pancakes are inspired by obsession to use bananas in as many recipes as possible. I had to find a way to have pancakes without feeling like I’d eaten a loaf of bread, so these are gluten free and very light (sometimes I end up making eight and waffling them down at an alarming speed). Oooh…. waffles… hmm…

Serves 2

Pancake ingredients

• 2 ripe (or over ripe) bananas
• splash of plant-based milk (I say ‘splash’ because I never measure but it’s approximately 150 ml)
• 2 eggs (n.b. I tried using a flax egg … it was a catastrophe. Please use real eggs for these pancakes!)
• ¾ cup oats (gluten free if you wish)
• 1½ tbsp chia seeds 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp honey
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Cherry glaze ingredients

• 2 handfuls of fresh cherries, with stones removed
• 2 tbsp of jam (any kind of berry jam or preserve)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp of water

Method

1. Whiz up all the pancake ingredients in a blender (or a food processor, smoothie maker, Kitchen Aid…)
2. Leave the mixture to settle for 20-40 minutes, allowing the chia seeds to ‘grow’ and the baking powder to do its thing
3. Make the glaze by simply heating the tablespoon of water in a saucepan on medium-high heat.
4. Add the cherries and the jam and stir gently
5. Lower the heat (low-medium) and add the honey
6. Continue stirring whilst the cherries simmer and the natural sugars are released
7. Heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and grab your pancake mix
8. Gently place a serving spoon sized dollop of mix into the pan (sometimes I like to do two at a time to speed up the process)
9. Leave the pancake to cook until small bubbles are formed on the top, then flip over (approximately 1½ – 2 minutes on each side)
10. Lower the heat on the cherry glaze so that it does not burn
11. Remove the first batch of pancakes, place them on a plate and cover to keep them warm (or, if you have a fancy Aga, whack them in the bottom to keep them toasty!)
12. Repeat step 8 until you have used all the pancake mix
13. Serve the pancakes (evenly!) between two plates and grab the hot, syrupy cherry sauce to pour over each stack

DELICIOUS!

. . . Heal the World