Banana Almond Butter Pancakes

I have to admit - stopping long enough to take
this picture was difficult!

I've already explained this little thing I have with Sunday nights. I always get a burst of energy that comes with a creative urge to do something that is probably a much larger endeavor than I should attempt. Maybe it's a sad attempt to prolong the inevitable Monday morning. This website is actually the fault of a Sunday night...but I digress. Yesterday was a lovely Sunday: the weather was finally showing signs of fall, I had some minor successes in the kitchen (quick bratwurst recipe coming soon!), and we had come from the farmers market with some great finds.

As I stood in the kitchen with restless energy, knowing very well that my hunger was going to drive my evening late night activities, I looked around to see what was available. Sadly, while we had bought some beautiful dino egg pluots and fresh apples, that certainly wasn't going to be enough to fill the giant void in my stomach nor sooth my creative impulse. It occurred to me that we hadn't done the "regular" shopping, so I'd have to improvise.

Two of the pluots from the market needed to be eaten right away. More on that later. With that in mind, I gathered these rather pathetic looking ingredients (including my very last and seriously overripe banana) and preheated the oven. 

almond butter, spice (coffee) grinder, egg, banana, dried coconut

Had I known this creation would turn out so well, I would've done it much sooner. 

Banana Almond Butter Pancakes

with Sweet Roasted Pluots

Pancakes

1 tbsp almond butter

1 egg

1 ripe banana

1 tbsp coconut flour*

pinch of cinnamon, optional

Butter or coconut oil (for cooking)

*I generally don't have coconut flour on hand, so I throw dried, shredded (unsweetened!) coconut into the spice grinder (which is a coffee grinder we don't use for coffee) for 20-30 seconds. Works great, although it's best to do more than 2 tbsp at a time, so I put what's left in a baggie and save it for next time. 

Serves one hungry person or two less hungry people!

Directions (this is pretty darn easy)

1. Combine almond butter, egg, banana, coconut flour (and cinnamon) with a fork until blended, smashing and stirring until most or all of the banana lumps are gone.

2. Heat oil/butter in your favorite frying pan over medium-low heat (we used a non-stick for this)

3. Cook on medium-low (or low) until golden brown on each side. These do not bubble the same way "regular pancakes" do - watch for the edges to start to cook, and just a few bubbles to form before flipping them.

I found that these pancakes cook best in oil/butter so they will brown well rather than burn.

I'm sure this would work with a hand blender, but it was fast this way
...and that's one less thing to drag out/clean/put away!

Ready to flip!

Sweet Roasted Pluots

pluots (we used two)

sugar (if they need sweetening)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Wash and cut pluots into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with sugar (brown or white). I'm sure honey would be a great sweetener (let me know how they turn out if you try it).

Roast 10-15 minutes until soft. We used a glass baking dish.

If you want the sugar to caramelize, place it under the broiler.

We started the pluots and put them in the oven before cooking the pancakes. The timing seemed just right.

Pluots just out of the oven

Enjoy! I ate this with a large dollop of whipped cream because I had some cream in the fridge. It would  be fabulous with some coconut whipped cream or just some straight coconut cream drizzled over it. 

Our lazy kitchen hack for the whipping cream was to pour it into a short glass and use a milk frother. It worked! The poor frother thought it was a bit much, but it was easier than dragging out the big guns!

Note the cute little heart on the bottom right! I did that on purpose.
Actually, I didn't, but I learned that wherever there was no butter, the pancake got darker.
Pretty cool if you ask me.