Fat banana pancake

This is the perfect lazy Sunday breakfast when you feel like pancakes but don’t want to stand at the stove flipping them all morning. With this ‘fat’ pancake you just pop it in the oven while you get on with your morning and soon enough its golden and bubbling with sweet juices from the banana, ready to be gobbled up. Saying that, it makes this the perfect treat for any day of the week really.

The flavours I have gone with lend to a tropical theme but any seasonal fruit would be delicious, such as grilled peaches or caramelised apple. Caramelising the bananas first really enhances their flavour and gives them a beautiful golden colour without having to achieve that and overcooking the batter.

Eggs are a beautiful breakfast ingredient as they are a complete source of protein and combined with the healthy fats and some complex carbohydrates you will be full until lunch time!

Fat banana pancake

Serves 4.

Ingredients 

1/2 C almond meal

1/2 t gluten free baking powder

2 T buckwheat flour

2 T rolled oats

2 T desiccated coconut

1/2 t ground cinnamon

zest and juice of 1 lime

3 free range organic eggs

2/3 C coconut milk, plus extra

1 T coconut sugar

2 T extra virgin coconut oil

2-3 bananas, sliced lengthways

Method 

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celcius. Place a 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil in your baking dish (roughly 20cm in diameter) and pop it in the preheating oven until melted.

Whisk together the almond meal, baking powder, buckwheat flour, oats, coconut, lime zest and cinnamon.

Squeeze half the juice of the lime over the sliced bananas and sprinkle over the coconut sugar. Heat the remaing tablespoon of coconut oil in a small frypan and cook the bananas cut side down until golden and caramelised.

Meanwhile, in a small jug whisk together the eggs and coconut milk then pour into the dry ingredients. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Pour into your prepared baking dish and top with the bananas, caramelised side up.

Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or until golden and puffed.

Serve with a squeeze of lime juice, shredded coconut and coconut milk.

Enjoy! And get creative with other seasonal fruit.

 

Persimmon and banana muffins with a pecan crumb

It is currently peak persimmon season here in Perth and as my parents have a tree and the local farmers markets are practically giving them away, I have more than I know what to do with. So I have been getting creative with ways to use this delicious fruit, enjoying them with porridge and on toast but this was my first try at baking with them, and what a treat it was! The persimmon adds a subtle flavour and creates a moist crumb along with the banana. They are very wholesome muffins, I think one could even be grabbed as a quick breakfast snack if your short on time.

When choosing persimmons there are two varieties, astringent and non-astringent. I have used the astringent variety  here as they have very soft, bright orange flesh when completely ripe. If this variety is not ripe the flesh will be quite firm and have an astringent texture in your mouth. Not pleasant at all, so make sure you choose a very ripe persimmon! The non-astringent variety could be used however the flesh is often a lot firmer so once peeled it would be easier to blend to a paste rather than mash.

The pecan crumb adds a really lovely texture to the muffins and as they are so easy to make, its worth another minute for the crunchy crumb on top!

 

Persimmon and banana muffins with a pecan crumb

1 1/2 C buckwheat flour

1/2 C coconut sugar

2 t baking powder

2 t ground cinnamon

1 t ground nutmeg

2 bananas, mashed

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

1 persimmon, peeled and mashed

2 free range organic eggs

1/2 C plant yoghurt

1/4 C cold pressed macadamia oil

1/4 C pure maple syrup

Pecan crumb

1/3 C rolled oats

1/3 C pecans, roughly chopped

4 T pure maple syrup

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.Grease a 12 hole muffin tin with coconut oil.

Combine the buckwheat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the bananas, vanilla, persimmon, eggs, yoghurt, oil and maple syrup.

For the pecan crumb, simply combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Spoon into muffin tins and top with a small spoonful of the crumble mix, pressing it lightly into the muffin mixture.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Gently tip the muffins out of the tin and serve warm or store in an airtight container for two to three days.

Enjoy!