Happy "Fars dag" (Swedish Father's Day)! I thought it was a good time to share my favorite "Coconut Banana Pancake" recipe with you all—just incase anyone wants to suprise their dad with a heavenly short stack on his special day. These pancakes happen to be gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free, but are so good that no one would ever even notice the difference. Henrik, my partner, thinks that they may even be better than regular pancakes. And, he's a pretty tough pancake critic. I hope you all enjoy them as much as we do!
I have listed the ingredients in both American cups and Swedish measurements. This recipe makes about 16 medium-small pancakes and could serve four people easily.
"Coconut Banana Pancakes"
Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup (60 grams) coconut flour
3/4 cup (120 grams) gluten-free flour mix—I used “Lailas Mjölmix Glutenfri”
2 tsp (2 teskedar) baking powder
1/8 tsp (about 1 finger pinch of salt)
Wet ingredients:
2 tbsp (2 matskedar) organic honey
2 tbsp (2 matskedar) organic maple syrup
1/3 cup (70 grams) coconut oil for in the batter
+1 teaspoon (1 tesked) coconut oil set aside for frying later
1 cup (2 dl + 2 matskedar) unsweetened non-dairy milk
1 medium sized banana
1/4 tsp (1 krm) real vanilla extract
6 medium to large sized eggs
1. Sift the gluten free flour mix if you can, this helps prevent clumping in the dough later.
2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
3. In a small pan at a very low temperature add the honey, maple syrup, coconut oil and non-dairy milk together.
4. In a small bowl mash the banana until somewhat smooth and then add to the pan. Once the coconut oil looks like it has melted and the only chunks in the batter are from the banana, remove the pan off of the stove to cool for a minute.
5. Whisk 6 eggs in a small bowl until well mixed and add them to the pan—When you do this, make sure the liquids in the pan are just slightly warm to the touch (not at all hot) because you don’t want to cook or scramble the eggs!
6. Then, pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredient bowl and mix well. Try to make sure there are no lumps left in the batter with dry flour.
7. Heat a teaspoon (tesked) of coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium-low heat.
8. Use a small to medium sized scoop and spoon your pancakes into the pan at your desired size (I used a Swedish "glögg" scoop and it made perfectly sized pancakes).
9. When very small bubbles begin to form along the edges, or the pancakes firm slightly, then it is time to flip them. (The first two pancakes are always a mess, so try not to judge your skills until the end.)
10. If the first two pancakes are too thick for your liking, you can add a bit more non-dairy milk (or even water) to the batter to thin them out slightly. Gluten free flour mixes tend to vary, so you many need to adjust the liquid amount slightly.
11. There is no need for more coconut oil or butter in the pan after that first teaspoon. Pancakes actually come out smoother and more perfect looking, when there is less oil or butter in the pan. So, just scoop your next pancakes into the pan and repeat the process until you are out of batter.
12. When finished, serve with whatever toppings you like!
Some suggested toppings: more bananas, coconut shavings, butter or margarin, jam, maple syrup, powdered sugar, peanut or almond butter, berries, chopped nuts, coconut “whipped cream”, ice cream, sprinkles, Nutella or chocolate chips.
A few of our family's tips for making perfect American pancakes:
Tip #1: My grandmother always used to serve her pancakes with melted butter in a little pouring dish (that was heated on the stove or in a microwave). We used to pour our butter on top right before the maple syrup! I now sometimes do this with vegan butter.
Tip #2: My mother always stirs in a bit of extra melted butter into her pancake batter, to make them extra moist. I haven’t done that in this recipe, but i’m guessing it would work well for all pancake recipes. Let me know how it goes if you decide to try it!
Tip #3: You can always add even thicker banana chunks, other berries or fruit (or even chocolate chips!) to the batter right before frying, to give the pancakes a little something extra. I haven’t done that for this recipe before, but I imagine it also works well with all pancake recipes. If you dare to try this too, let me know how it goes and comment below!
