Whole Wheat Banana Hemp Pancakes...

I love a good pancake, the problem is I’ve made every single pancake and waffle recipe from every cookbook I own, and even a few I don’t. I needed a change, but I’ve never made my own home made pancakes before. Slightly nervous, but completely determined to come up with something delicious I set to work this morning.

Bananas and Hemp are two things I’ve been craving lately, and I figured they would go well together. The rich earthy taste of hemp, with the sweet creamy flavor of banana was an instant winner, and greatly exceeded my expectations. When I taste tested the batter I thought it was so good, I was tempted just to eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon, forget the process of actually making pancakes! The other thing I wanted to do with these pancakes was make them as fluffy and moist as possible without using any white flour. White flour is something I find included into too many pancake and waffle recipes. Usually I combat this by substituting half the amount of white flour called for by using half wheat. Or three quarters wheat to one quarter white, but this time I wanted the pancakes to be completely whole grain, so I used whole wheat pastry flour hoping it would do the trick, and it did. So keep that in mind, if you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour and want to use just regular wheat flour instead your pancakes are going to be a lot denser, and possibly less moist. Though I do urge you to make these pancakes at least once my way without any substitutions. They really were the most perfect, scrumptious, and most pancakes I’ve had in a long time, and they packed a super banana punch!

Whole Wheat Banana Hemp Pancakes

1 3/4 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
2 ½ tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Ground Allspice
1 ½ C Hemp Milk
2 Ripe Bananas pureed
2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 ½ tbsp Hemp Seeds

- Combine all dry ingredients in medium sized work bowl. Then make a well in the center, and add all wet ingredients including banana. Mix with wooden spoon until just combined. You don’t want to over mix. A
few lumps are okay.

*** Note - I pureed my bananas in the tiny food processor I have. If you like though you could just mash them really well with a fork, but make sure there aren’t any lumps. ***

- Add in the hemp seeds and stir to combine.

- Heat griddle, or pan to medium heat. Coat with cooking spray if necessary. When pan is hot, drop 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the pan, using back of cup to spread in an even circle. Cook on medium or medium-low until edges start to crisp and batter on top is bubbly. About 4-5 minutes.

- Flip pancakes over and cook an additional 2-3 minutes until nicely golden brown.

- Serve with Maple Syrup, powdered sugar, non-dairy butter, and sliced fruit if desired.

PS: I served my pancakes with maple syrup and sliced banana and strawberry, with just the slightest dusting of powdered sugar, more for photogenic reasons then anything else.

PPS: Just wanted to let everyone know I’ve updated both my Resources Page and Fridge Page. I’ve added a few more books, and films to the page, as well as quite a few more websites mainly dealing with health, diet, nutrition, but there are also some sites that athletes might be interested in. On the Fridge page I’ve updated about some of the great dairy and meat alternatives on the market. So check it out! And don’t be afraid to leave me a comment once in a while, I’d love to connect with you and hear your feedback!