Vegan Banana Pancakes with Cocoa Cashew Butter

A moment of honesty. 

I sometimes throw minor fits when someone asks me to adapt perfectly wonderful, gluten-filled, animal-dependent recipes into alternative, allergen-safe recipes. 

I might slam the refrigerator door, or just stare at a vegan cookbook with much sass and great disrespect, while eating eggs cooked in butter and topped with cheese. 

I am anti-preservative, anti-MSG, anti-GMOs - I like eating healthfully, but I do not turn my nose up to any truly natural resources.  If it comes from the land and has not been touched by the dubious hands of chemists, I will likely approve.  

Some of my recent pursuits have called me to lay aside my butter *sniff, sniff,* and delve into another realm that lies entirely beyond my sphere of comfort.  

It has resulted in some truly nauseating egg-less muffins, and some positively delicious pancakes.

I will be no means be reverting to veganism, but through some careful study and much practice, I have found that even vegan recipes can have their charm. 

I will even go another step further and say candidly that these egg-free/dairy-free pancakes lack nothing to be desired.  

They are light in texture, but their edges are crispy from being fried in coconut oil. 

The batter begins like most pancake batters, with leavening and flour.  Sugar and cinnamon add a bit of interest, and a pinch of salt brings balance. 

Mashed bananas act as the binder in these pancakes, taking the place of eggs.  Almond milk, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla form the rest of the "wet" team. 

In a matter of moments the batter will have come together. 

I like to allow the batter to rest for a few minutes before I begin frying.  This gives time for any overlooked pockets of flour to work themselves out.

I fried my pancakes in coconut oil because I love the nutty flavor, but you could use vegetable oil, or even a light olive oil.  

Your kitchen will smell pretty amazing at this point. 

While the pancakes are still hot, it would be a really good idea to slather them with homemade cashew butter.  Of course, first you have to make it. 

Once you realize the simplicity of nut butters you are going to lose your mind.  I did.  A whole new world opens up. 

You might make more nut butter than you can actually use, but that's okay because if all else fails it makes a really nice dip for pretzels. 

Cashews require but a few minutes of toasting before they are ready to be spun around in the food processor, along with coconut oil, cocoa powder, salt, and a teeny bit of sugar.  It is basically like cashew Nutella. 

If you are a topping-lover, you will probably enjoy sliced bananas, coconut chips, and maybe a pinch or two of cinnamon on these pancakes.  Oh, and maple syrup too.  But use the good stuff please.  Get outta here with that butter-flavored sugar water.   

Okayyy... so maybe veganism isn't always a bad thing. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Vegan Banana Pancakes with Cocoa Cashew Butter

pancake recipe adapted slightly from Vegan by Food 52

for the chocolate cashew butter

- 1 cup raw cashews 

- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

In a medium saucier pan, toast cashews over medium heat until fragrant and slightly deepened in color; about 5 minutes.

Combine the cashews, coconut oil, cocoa powder, salt, and granulated sugar in the work bowl of your food processor.  Pulse until cashews are completely pulverized and the mixture is smooth and homogenous.  This will take several minutes. 

Serve the prepared butter atop warm pancakes or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. 

for the pancakes

- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

- 1 tablespoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 2 cups almond milk

- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

- 1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 ripe bananas) 

toppings (optional, but why wouldn't you?)

- fresh banana slices

- coconut chips

- maple syrup

- ground cinnamon 

- cocoa cashew butter

In a large bowl, sift to combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

In a measuring cup, combine almond milk and apple cider vinegar and whisk until frothy.  Stir in the vanilla. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Stir in bananas and coconut oil.  The batter should be smooth with no lumps visible.

Cook's Note: The bananas may give the batter a lumpy effect, but that is not anything to worry about.  Pockets of flour are the real enemy.  It should be fairly easy to tell the difference between the two.

Place a large, nonstick frying pan over medium heat and coat lightly with coconut oil.  When the oil is simmering, place 1/4 cup of the pancake batter in the pan.  Depending on the size of your skillet, you should be able to cook 3-4 pancakes at a time.  

The tops of the pancakes will quickly begin to bubble.  When the bubbles have burst and stopped forming, your pancake is ready to flip.  Cook on the opposite side for 1-2 minutes; until golden. 

Repeat with the remaining batter, re-coating the pan with coconut oil as needed. 

Serve with cocoa cashew butter, fresh banana slices, coconut chips, ground cinnamon, or maple syrup!  Enjoy! 

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{The 1st Meal} Pumpkin Pancakes with Candied Bacon & Apple Cider Syrup

Pumpkin pancakes.  Say that three times fast.  Pumpkin pancakes.  Pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin pancakes.  Heehee… I’m excited.

Pancakes are exciting.  We get to have tiny cakes for breakfast.  Further more, we get to cover said cakes in butter and syrup.  AND, in this case, candied bacon.  I just died a little.

It’s okay, I’m back.  Let’s begin. 

Pancake rule no. 1: Do not, please, do not over-stir.  Give the batter a couple good stirs and then step away and allow the batter to rest.  That’ s rule no. 2 - resting.  Pancake batter needs time to rest, a good five minutes will do the trick

These fluffy, pumpkin pancakes are scented with nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla.  We could cover practically anything in those three ingredients and it would taste good.

If you’d like to make your own pumpkin pie spice, that would be awesome.

While the pancakes are frying, you should chop up some bacon.  Put on a pot of coffee too.  

The bacon is cooked in a skillet until it’s allmmosstt done, and then we add the maple syrup and cook for the last couple of minutes.

Maple syrup candied bacon.  That’s almost more fun than saying pumpkin pancakes.

I am pretty sure I would have been invited to a lot more sleepovers as a child had I known how to candy bacon.

Oh, did I mention that I’m topping these lovely cakes with apple cider syrup?  Yeah… I’m really excited about this weekend.  I’m also on a apple cider binge, no apologies.

Pancakes fried and buttered, bacon sprinkled, syrup drizzled, coffee poured - and we are done. 

Happy weekend!

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Candied Bacon & Apple Cider Syrup

serves 4

for the pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree* 
• 2 large eggs 
• 2 oz unsalted butter, melted + extra for frying
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.  Set aside. 

In a separate bowl combine milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, butter, and vanilla extract.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a whisk to combine.  Do not over mix or the batter will become tough. 

Place a small nonstick frying pan, over medium heat and coat with butter.  When the butter is gently sizzling, add 2 ounces of pancake batter.  Cook until the batter stops bubbling and then flip and cook for 2 minutes on the opposite side.  Repeat until all the batter is used.  

While the pancakes are cooking, prepare the candied bacon and cider syrup. 

for the maple candied bacon

• 1 cup bacon, chopped 
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• 1/8 cup maple syrup 

Melt butter in a medium frying pan and add bacon.  Cook the bacon over medium heat, until it is almost perfect crisp, but just undercooked, then add maple syrup.  Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, until the syrup is thick, then remove from heat and reserve for topping the pancakes.  

for the cider syrup

• 1 cup apple cider 
• 1/8 cup maple syrup

Pour cider into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium high heat.  Simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 10 minutes.  

Remove from heat and stir maple syrup into the reduced cider.  Serve warm over pancakes.  Enjoy!  

*For this recipe I used canned pumpkin puree.  Yes, canned.  Though I generally much prefer using fresh pumpkin puree, canned works very well here because it is much thicker.  If you would like to use homemade, drain it thoroughly using some cheese cloth.

{The 1st Meal} Easy Banana Bread Pancakes with Pecan Butter

I am not completely sure when it was that my mother first fed me banana bread, but I know that I have been in love with it ever since.  I cannot be trusted alone with a loaf of freshly baked banana bread.  I’m serious.  I can, and will eat the whole loaf, and likely polish off 3/4 of a stick of butter in the process. 

If my brother and I are together?  Gone.  All of it.  Yes, we did just buy all the bananas within a ten mile radius, bake 47 loaves of bread, eat every last one of them by ourselves.  It’s how we bond.  If you need us, we will be found sleeping on the kitchen floor in a beautiful banana bread coma. 

What I am trying to say is that I really, really, really like banana bread.

In my mind, banana bread is breakfast fare.  I like to enjoy a warm slice or two with a big cup of coffee.  The only challenge is, I often lack the patience to wait an entire hour for my breakfast to bake. 

By the time I crawl out of bed and mosey out to the kitchen I can only wait about 23 minutes for food to enter my mouth.  Here lies my quandary. Sure, I could bake it the night before, but that would not necessarily guarantee banana bread for breakfast.  The lateness of hour by no means lessens my ability to devour.

So, I have to get my banana bread fix in a slightly more timely manner.  Hello pancakes! 

These pancakes were the first thing I made in my shiny new Ninja blender.  Pancakes are always the first thing people make when they get a new blender, right?  Okay, maybe not, but they should be. 

I have long loved my Ninja blender, so I was more than delighted to take their new Auto iQ model for a test run.  Though I loved my former, more basic model, I do not know that I could go back to it after using the Nutri Ninja and all its fancy buttons.  It not only serves as a blender, but also as a food processor, giving you extra room in your pantry by cutting down on your appliances.

Besides saving dishes, making pancakes in a blender also aerates the batter, which in turn, leads to fluffy pancakes.  For this recipe, I took advantage of the new Smooth Boost setting and it created a perfectly smooth batter without overworking it and making the pancakes tough.

The batter is relatively standard.  Ripe bananas are pureed first using the Smooth Boost setting to make them extra creamy.  Then they are combined with eggs, butter, vanilla, and milk.  

I let the blender do all the work here and she did a fantastic job.  The best part?  You still only have one dish to clean.  Well yes, the measuring cups, but just work with me here.

My particular model comes with two different work bowls as well as two single serving pitchers.  I used the Blend and Prep Bowl for this recipe.  I was skeptical in the beginning, and I doubted that it would be able to replace my beloved food processor, but it did the job wonderfully.  If you can only afford one extra appliance, I would certainly recommend this tool because it can serve as both a blender and a food processor and does both jobs wonderfully well.

As I said before, I have always slathered my banana bread with a generous dose of butter, and I had no intention of treating these pancakes any differently.  However, I wanted to jazz my butter up a bit with pecans, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.  

Oh yes, I did all of this in the blender too.  While the pancakes were cooking, I rinsed out the work bowl and made the butter.

A couple of pulses later, you are ready to slather some pancakes with spoonfuls of sweet, nutty butter. 

Here we are.  At the end of another week, and ready to forge some meaningful moments. Let’s begin well.  

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

This post was in partnership with Ninja Kitchen.  As always, all opinions expressed were completely my own.  I just happen to be pretty mad about their products.

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Banana Bread Pancakes with Brown Sugar Pecan Butter

serves 2-4, depending on your appetite

for the butter

• 2/3 cup raw pecans
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Add raw pecans to the Blend and Prep bowl fitted with the Chopping Blade, or in the work bowl of your food processor.  Pulse several times, until finely chopped.  Add brown sugar, vanilla, and butter.  Pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula as needed.  When the butter is smooth, transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

for the pancakes

• 1 large banana
• 8 ounces whole milk 
• 2 large eggs 
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 10 ounces all purpose flour 
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg 
• softened butter, for frying 

Sift to combine all purpose flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside.

In the Ninja Blend and Prep bowl fitted with the chopping blade, or the work bowl your food processor, add 1 banana.  Blend until smooth.  Add whole milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla extract and pulse several times to combine. 

Add flour mixture and blend on high for 1-2 minutes, until a smooth batter has formed.  

Place a large frying pan over medium heat and coat with a small amount of butter.  Pour about 1/4-1/3 cup(depending on the size of your pan) of batter into the frying pan and cook until the batter has bubbled and all the bubbles have popped.  Flip the pancake with an offset spatula and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.  Continue with the remainder of the batter.  

To serve, butter each pancake with the prepared brown sugar pecan butter and drizzle with maple syrup.  Top with pecans and sliced bananas, if you feel so inclined.  Enjoy!