Rise and shine – it’s time for a Banana Bread Pancake recipe!

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For as long as I have known my father, he has been a morning person. Every morning before school when I was younger he would come into our rooms with a burst of energy and shout,

“Rise and shine little punkentines!!!”

(To this day, my two brothers and I still have no idea what a punkentine is – maybe a hybrid pumpkin- clementine?)

He would then turn on the lights and rip the warm covers from off of our sleepy bodies. When I was little, I never really fought back, but as I aged, the morning battles became epic. After he would turn the light on, I would get up and turn the light off, and then go back to bed.

When he would get ready to make the cover pull move, I would brace my feet against the foot of my bed and hold tight to the covers. I would hold on so tight so he couldn’t pull the covers off of me.

But alas, I was foiled by the morning terrorist, because he would just throw the covers up over my head.I believe even one time he may have doused my head with a glass of water after a long back and forth battle to try and get me to wake up.

He will probably deny that.

For a long time, I used to wonder, why is he so chipper in the morning? When I wake up, I need quiet time to adjust to being awake. I do not want people talking to me and asking me questions first thing in the morning.

Then it dawned on me. The man wakes up at 4:30 am every day!

Nobody in our house stirs until around 7:00 am. So he has three hours of complete silence to adjust to being awake, make himself a great breakfast, and read his paper while enjoying his coffee.

Of course, he is chipper and awake by the time we all get up.

One morning when I was still living at home after college, I had to wake up early for work—like Dad early. So I was excited to have a chance to disrupt my dad’s morning routine for a change.

It was a glorious payback for all the years of morning terror I had faced at his hands. And I got to eat some fab pancakes that I didn’t make during the week!

So this recipe, for some amazing Banana Bread Pancakes to perk up your mornings, goes out to Dad!

Banana Bread Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients
(Makes 12 to 16 Small Pancakes)

• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ Teaspoon Salt
• ½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Buttermilk
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 Cups Mashed Bananas
• 3 Tablespoons Butter, for griddle

Directions:

1. Place a rack in the upper two-thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. This will keep the pancakes warm as they’re baked in batches.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nuts.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir in mashed bananas.

4. Pour the buttermilk mixture, all at once, into the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Let rest for five minutes.

5. Over medium heat, melt one tablespoon of the butter in a cast iron skillet or a griddle pan. Spoon two tablespoons batter into the hot pan and cook, flipping once, until pancakes are golden on both sides, about two minutes per side.

6. Place pancakes on an ovenproof plate and store in the oven while you cook the rest of the pancakes, adding more butter to the griddle as needed. Pancakes are best served immediately.

we heartsters – are you an early riser? What are favorite breakfast foods?