Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes

Every Monday my senior “Capping” class meets bright and early to discuss our semester long projects that are meant to display everything we have learned within our respective majors since freshman year.  The casual group discussion setting, as well as the eleven a.m. start, provides the perfect opportunity for me to test my culinary skills on my classmates.  I figured they wouldn’t mind some free food (assuming that they have faith that my cooking is edible) in exchange for useful feedback from my target audience: college kids.

Last week, I started the tradition with chocolate chip banana pancakes.  I figured pancakes would be the perfect breakfast food to put together quickly before class, and the chocolate chips and banana added a little something different to the mix.  My Dad and I used to make buttermilk pancakes together all the time when I was growing up, so I had some confidence in my skills.  Pancakes were his specialty and he passed down the “secret” ingredient that his grandfather, who owned a diner, had taught him: vanilla.  Just a teaspoon makes all the difference! 

I made the pancakes mini in size because I figured it would be easier to have finger food to distribute throughout class, but you can make larger pancakes as well – the yield will just be cut in half.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes

Recipe and photos by Culinary Chronicles of a College Kid.blogspot.com

Makes 24-26 mini pancakes

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2-3 (depending on size) very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla
• cooking spray
• frying pan with nonstick coating
• spatula

Mix the pancake mix, vanilla, and the water in a large bowl, then add the mashed bananas and whisk.  For denser pancakes, mix well.  For lighter and fluffier pancakes, avoid over mixing.

Place the pan on the stove over medium heat and cover with cooking spray.  Once the pan has heated, spoon the batter onto the pan into circles about 3 inches in diameter.  For larger pancakes, you can add more batter to each, but the yield will be halved.  As the pancakes start to brown on the bottom, sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top.

Flip the pancakes once they are golden brown at the bottom and the chocolate chips have settled into the batter.  Take them off of the pan once they are cooked, and apply more cooking spray.  Repeat the process until all the batter is used.

In the end, I think that it was a great concept, especially for my target audience, but the execution was a little off (can you tell I watch too much Top Chef?).  I originally used FOUR barely ripe bananas because the thought of using bananas that were almost black in color grossed me out. That was my first mistake…I learned that very ripe bananas are a necessity when making any kind of pancakes, bread, or muffin with this fruit.  Otherwise, you will end up adding too many bananas (I kept adding more because I couldn’t taste the flavor in the batter!) and the mixture will become extremely moist.  The flavor was great, but the texture was wasn;t right. Mushy pancakes didn’t make for the best morning snack.

Mushy mistakes (the result of 4 barely ripe bananas)

My culinary mishap did prove one thing, however: college kids will eat pretty much anything.  I got positive reviews all around from the class and one clever tip for anyone who attempts the recipe my way:

Jorge: “If you close your eyes before you eat them, they are really good.”

Total time: 35 minutes

Also, singing some Jack Johnson while cooking makes this recipe a little more fun :)