Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

So yes, it’s almost Christmas, and I love all things Christmas and all things Christmas baking, but I  have nothing new and Christmassy to share with you today because this year I’m sticking to all the recipes I’ve already posted because they work, they’re nostalgic, and they’re amazing :) Instead, the experimenting is happening at breakfast time.

We eat a lot of pancakes around these parts. I’d say it’s a tie between them and fried eggs for the most common Sunday breakfasts in our rotation, and, since Carl has decided Saturday breakfasts should also involve more than the basics, I imagine they’ll be making even more appearances in our lives. Carl is our chief pancake maker since Sunday is my day to actually shower (with the door locked!) while he makes breakfast, so when I find a new recipe to try I slide it his way and just enjoy the results on my plate :)

Pretty much without fail we have Favourite Pancakes because, hello, they are our favourite. Every now and then we get crazy with cinnamon roll pancakes, or lazy with one-dish oven-baked pancakes (that’s what happens when it’s my turn to make pancakes ;)).  Now we have pancakes to turn to when one overripe banana sits languishing on the counter, too ripe even for smoothie consumption, the peel having almost become one with the flesh. The sweetest banana flavour, in the least appealing of covers, sadly without two similarly old friends to join it in best ever banana muffins.

This makes me envision myself, unhappily left without my dearest friends in my old age, wondering if anyone will look past my undesirable appearance to see the worth that lies within.

Ok, really there is too much noise in my house for that sort of pondering and we all know I’m not outlasting anyone with my eating and exercise habits, but still. The thought has crossed the mind, so that last lonely old banana is never, never, never thrown away; it is always put to good use and very much appreciated.

Which brings me to banana chocolate chip pancakes.

Obviously.

This recipe is adapted from one on the back of a bag of overripe, clearance bananas. Not only do they charge me half price for ripe bananas, they even give me recipes to use them in! Win-win. They are a little less fluffy than our favourite pancakes thanks to the banana, but also healthier and totally delicious in their own right.

Banana and chocolate just work so well together, and since I happen to love peanut butter and banana and peanut butter and chocolate, I happen to love these banana pancakes with peanut butter smeared on top. But syrup, whipped cream, and possibly some sliced strawberries and more bananas are never a bad idea either :)

I hope you have someone in your life to make you pancakes, someone who values bananas that have passed their prime and would never dream of throwing one away. They’re the right kind of people to keep close.