So when I met Nathan back in 2004 in Australia, he would always make amazing banana pancakes for me. This was a year before the song came out by Jack Johnson called Banana Pancakes. The song talks about making banana pancakes when it raining outside and pretending that it's the weekend. This is very appropriate since we are having the coldest, rainiest June (nicknamed Junuary) in Vancouver in years! Feel free to play in the background while reading this post - click here. We also got to experience amazing Indonesian banana pancakes on our trip to Bali last year. They are much thinner over there, more like what we call crepes. Here is a photo of the ones we had in Bali at the cafe next to our apartment in Legian.
I decided to take the recipe a little further and add some special ingredients to make these pancakes more unique and delicious. I had some pecans laying around and I always have cinnamon and pure vanilla on hand for baking. They turned out amazing!
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed (I saved one of them to go on top)
- 1 cup of crushed pecans (I also saved some for the top)
- Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vanilla, vegetable oil and bananas.
- Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
- Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.
So last year this time, Nathan and I were sitting on the beach in Bali sipping Pina Colada's, eating fresh fish and bronzing in the sun. Now, a year later, we are living in beautiful Vancouver... but not on vacation. We have had a fortunate winter with tons of snow at Whistler and the opportunity to snowboard on some unbelievable powder days. But... nothing beats vacation in Bali. So I decided to make some muffins that brought us back to those memories.
I had fresh pineapple in the house and I always seem to have coconut on hand. I found this recipe for Pineapple Coconut Muffins online and decided to adjust it a bit and give it a try. They turned out better than I thought they would! We even took a few the next day on our hike to the top of Mt Seymour in North Vancouver as a snack after reaching the peak! Later that afternoon we went to Jericho Beach by our house to do some reading and relaxing and gobbled down a few more of these treats.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
3 egg whites
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sour cream (I used low fat Greek Vanilla Yogurt)
1 cup pineapple, diced into small pieces
2 teaspoons dark rum (I used white rum - but i'm sure Malibu Rum would be good too!)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and 1/4 cup of the coconut. 3. In another bowl, whisk the sour cream, butter, egg whites, run and vanilla together until smooth. Stir in the diced pineapple. 4. Stir the dry ingredients into the sour cream mixture and stir with a spoon until just combined, do not overmix.5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cup to about 3/4 of the way full. 6. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of the coconut and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar. Sprinkle over the muffin batter.7. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
