Banana Oatmeal Pancakes for Celia

What a week! I don't usually post new recipes on Saturdays, but I'm putting this one up today at Celia's request.

On Thursday, I made pancakes for the big boys, and Damien looked at me with eyes that were straight out of Oliver Twist: "Can you make some for poor, pathetic me?"  He had never eaten pancakes before - he never had enough foods to make one that would stay together.  I've been trying to study more about cooking chemistry so I can re-create what everyone else is having even when I'm hamstrung by having only three or four ingredients.  It seemed like a good day for an experiment.

I went with the overall ratio of equal parts flour and acidulated liquid, with one egg and one teaspoon leavening per part.  My "shop the pantry list" was oat flour, coconut milk, and a banana to replace the egg.  (I was glad to have a chance to try out the new package of pre-ground oat flour; usually, I grind it myself from rolled oats.)  Leavening was actually the easy part -- baking soda is considered a non-food (since salt is a mineral, not an actual food), and I have both coconut and wine vinegars (the latter from their kids' recent grape trial).  That left me with a recipe of:

1 cup oat flour
1 Tbsp coconut vinegar + evaporated coconut milk to make 1 c.
1 mashed banana
1 tsp baking soda

This made about 8 decent sized pancakes (bigger than silver dollars, but not quite diner-plate size).   Damien ate some, and Celia ate the leftovers when she came home from school.

By Friday,  we had two bananas that needed to be eaten "yesterday," so  I tried a double batch.  I decided I preferred to add a little extra milk (maybe a tablespoon or so) to thin down that much oatmeal to a pourable consistency, but they were still viable with the base 2 cups of coconut milk.  Awesome!

Then, on Friday night, my mom fell. I spent the night with her and my dad in the ER,  getting x-rays and ultimately a splint-cast and sling for a broken shoulder and elbow.  The docs finished and finally discharged her around 5:30 in the morning. (Next time she wants to party all night, I'm going to suggest a nightclub where at least there's decent music!)  I came home and crashed.  Thankfully, the kids let me sleep a few hours, but Celia decided she was going to make breakfast for everyone -- bacon and pancakes.

She did an excellent job following the directions on the back of the gluten-free Bisquick box (even adding chocolate chips to the ones she brought up to me when she woke me up), and then decided to make a batch of oatmeal pancakes for Damien and herself.  She thought, "I don't know the recipe, but I'll just check Mom's blog.  She always puts the new recipes there."  Poor kid -- I hadn't gotten that far this week, so instead of pancakes, she and Damien got plain old oatmeal! Last night, as I got dressed to run to my parents', my very experienced ER-tripper gathered a bag of granola bars, a bottle of water, and a battery phone charger (WITH spare cord!) and shoved them at me as I bolted out the door.  I told her I'd post the recipe right away as a thank you for her quick thinking. Now she can make herself pancakes any time she wants -- but hopefully, it won't be because Mom's been at the hospital all night!

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Makes about 8 pancakes

1 banana
1 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp coconut vinegar + evaporated coconut milk to make 1 c.
canola oil (for pan)

Preheat griddle or skillet. Mash the banana until smooth.

In a separate (larger) bowl, combine oat flour and baking soda.

Add banana and milk, and whisk to combine.

Pour about 1 tbsp of canola oil onto hot pan.  Using a folded paper towel, carefully wipe the oil across the surface to grease the pan.

Drop batter onto pan in scant 1/2-cupfuls.  Cook for 3-4 minutes,  flip, and cook 2-3 minutes more.

Serve with syrup of choice (we like Lyle's golden syrup, either plain or with a bit of cocoa powder mixed in), or just gobble down plain.


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