Cooking with Colm: Peanut butter and banana pancakes are the ultimate weekend brunch

I top mine with crispy bacon and a blueberry compôte

Growing up, peanut butter did seem a bit exotic to me. 

I remember as a child being fascinated when American TV shows featured a child getting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. They invariably seemed delighted by this, and to me, growing up in Ireland of the 1970s and ’80s, peanut butter did seem a bit exotic. 

The addition of ‘jelly’ added to that sense of the exotic, making a sandwich sound like some sort of intriguing dessert. I remember being pretty disappointed when I found out that jelly was just jam. That aside, there is something very special about the combination of savoury, creamy peanut butter and the sweetness of the fruit. 

This is exactly what was on my mind when I was thinking up a new pancake recipe. I had considered using blueberries in the pancakes, with a warm blueberry compôte drizzled over the top as well. In the end, though I went with banana as the fruit pairing for peanut butter. It is a wonderful combination. I used mashed banana in the batter and then enhanced the flavour by also adding some fresh banana which I pan-fried in butter.

This dish can be easily adapted to make it vegetarian by leaving out the Parma ham or bacon. If you do that, make sure to top the dish off with a generous amount of toasted nuts. They will add some lovely crunch to the dish as well as enhancing the savoury notes that are needed to make this a very well-balanced plate of food. This recipe will make 12-15 pancakes.

Peanut butter and banana pancakes

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Bananas and peanut butter are a match made in heaven

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the pancakes:

• 350g plain flour

• 2 tsp caster sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 4 eggs

• 500ml buttermilk

• 2 ripe bananas

• 80ml smooth peanut butter

• Butter, to cook

• For the peanut butter crème fraiche:

• 80ml crème fraiche

• 2 tsp smooth peanut butter

• 1 tsp icing sugar

• To serve:

• 3 ripe bananas

• Parma ham or streaky bacon

• Some toasted unsalted peanuts or flaked almonds

Method

1. Start by making your pancake batter. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Peel and mash the two ripe bananas. Separate the eggs. Lightly beat the yolks, add the buttermilk, mashed banana, and the smooth peanut butter to the eggs and whisk to combine. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a spoon to make a smooth batter.

2. Use a handheld whisk or food processor to whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak, and then, using a metal spoon, fold the fluffy egg whites into the batter. This is how you will incorporate all the air in the egg whites into the batter and make it really light and airy. Use a flexible spatula with a wide base to add one-third of your whisked egg whites to the batter, just place it in on top of the batter. Do this in a big mixing bowl, you need a bit of room to do it properly. Get the spatula in under the batter and scoop some up, folding it in over the egg whites. Repeat this until the egg whites are well combined, using slow folding motions. Take your time and do not stir the batter or you will knock the air out of the egg whites. Once the first third of egg white is folded in, repeat twice more with the second and final third. A little patience is required, but this will only take five minutes or so overall and doing it properly makes the world of difference.

3. When your batter is ready, warm a heavy-based frying pan to a high heat, throw on a knob of butter and let it melt until the butter foams. Turn the heat down to medium and spoon on the pancake batter. You want the pancakes to be about eight to ten centimetres in diameter.

4. Cook the pancakes for about three minutes until you start to see the surface of the pancakes start to bubble, then flip them over in the pan. The underneath should be toasted and golden. Cook the other side for another three minutes. Flip the pancakes again to check they are cooked to perfection, before popping them onto a warm plate and moving on to the next batch.

5. When you have your final batch of pancakes in the pan and cooking, combine all the ingredients for the peanut butter crème fraiche together in bowl and whisk them until you have a nice creamy mix with the peanut butter and sugar fully combined. Taste the crème fraiche, and if you want to amp up the flavour a little you can add some more peanut butter and/or a quarter teaspoon of vanilla essence.

6. Slice the remaining three bananas and melt a generous knob of butter in another pan, and once it is foaming, pop on the sliced banana. Cook the banana over a medium heat for about three minutes before flipping it over and frying the other side. You want the banana to be golden and a little caramelised, about three minutes per side will get them about right. Do not add any sugar to the bananas, they are sweet enough and you have plenty of other sweet components to the dish.

7. Air fry or grill some Parma ham or streaky bacon until it is nice and crisp. This will add some savoury and salty flavour to your dish as well as some lovely crispy texture. Toast some peanuts or flaked almonds in the oven or in a dry pan.

8. Time now to serve your dish. Stack a pile of pancakes on a plate, two or three per person is plenty. Now add some of the pan-fried banana and a dollop of the peanut crème fraiche. Top off the pancake stack with some crispy Parma ham or bacon and then drizzle some maple syrup over the top. Finally, scatter the dish with some toasted nuts.