Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

I came up with this recipe during the pandemic, it reminds me of those slow mornings when we were all in lockdown. The only thing I miss about lockdown is the time I had to cook and try new recipes and that every night was movie night lol. I remember it took me months to find the trick to make fluffy but healthy pancakes (because with other recipes I would end up with crepes, not pancakes).

I absolutely love this recipe, its definitely one of my favourites. I wanted to find a healthier option of chocolate pancakes, and I was determined to find a recipe that would actually taste good, so I did! I suggest you read until the end to review my preparation tips since this one is tricky to hit perfectly on the first try.

Anyway, this was my breakfast for at least eight months straight until I fell in love with another recipe. Fun fact: once I find a plate that I absolutely love (especially breakfast), I will eat it every day until I'm sick of it and change it for something else.

Ingredients:

1 banana

1 cup oatmeal flour

1/2 tablespoons baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 cup coconut milk (you can use almond, soy, oatmeal, or cashew milk)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon coconut sugar or maple syrup (optional)

Preparation:

*Make sure you do not use a blender to make this recipe, the batter will be too liquid and the pancakes won't be fluffy at all.

Make a puree with the peeled banana (use a fork), and add the cinnamon and maple syrup/coconut sugar in a bowl, mix them all together. Add all the liquid ingredients (milk and vanilla) to the puree and mix until the batter is homogeneous. Then, add the eggs to the mix and use a whisk or fork to integrate the ingredients, allowing the batter to have a thicker texture. Slowly start to incorporate the flour, cocoa powder and all the dry ingredients while mixing. Mix until you notice that all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Let the batter sit for about two/three minutes for the baking powder to do its magic and the batter to thicken a bit more.

Tips from the heart:

- The more black spots the banana has, the sweeter it will be. I often use almost-riped bananas and skip the maple syrup/coconut sugar step as I try not to add extra sugar to this recipe.

- You can use one whole egg + one white or two whole eggs.

- You can always add more cinnamon if you like to.

- If you want to grease your pan, you can use coconut oil.

- If you want to add extra chocolate, you can add sugar-free dark chocolate chips to the mix directly to the pancake in the pan while it cooks.

- I usually eat it with strawberries because I feel they balance out the flavours, but you can use bananas, peanut butter, maple syrup, anything.