Banana Boat Pancakes

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day celebration! My parents have made it a tradition to visit us in Boston over the holiday and this year the highlights were visiting Castle Island, attending a cookbook signing with my mom (more on this in a future post!), and heading out for a couple of jogs with my dad, who has done several half marathons and is an amazing and inspirational runner. We jogged around the Charles River and Boston Common on Friday and then did a 5K race on Sunday morning that benefited the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. My dad was nice and slowed down his usual pace so he could run alongside me both days, which was really fun. I never know how fast I’m running outside (although a smartphone with RunKeeper is on my current wish list), so I was completely shocked that my official 5K time was 27:19, which is an 8:49 minute per mile pace! I crushed my first 5K time by almost 5 minutes and I thought this course was more difficult than the first one because there were a couple of hard hills. I recently started training for my first triathlon, which I’ll be doing in August with Shannon, and I’m excited that all my extra time at the gym is already paying off!

Anyway, in honor of Mother’s Day I wanted to come up with a recipe for my mom. I’ve mentioned before that she loves pancakes and I was recently inspired to make a version inspired by Banana Boats, my favorite Girl Scout campfire treat, when I smelled a bonfire during a recent bike ride. Does anyone else remember these? You split a banana open and stuff it with chocolate and marshmallows and then wrap it in tinfoil and put it on the fire until all the components are warm and gooey – yum! So for these pancakes I put chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in the batter and then topped the pancakes with banana slices. They are delicious with syrup or a peanut butter drizzle!

Banana Boat Pancakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 banana, sliced
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the egg, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla extract until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.

Pour 1/4 cup scoops of batter onto a greased nonstick skillet over medium heat. Flip the pancakes when bubbles start to appear on top, after about 3 minutes. Cook the other side until golden brown. Makes 9 pancakes.

Top pancakes with banana slices. Mix peanut butter and milk in a small bowl until smooth and drizzle over pancakes. Makes 3 servings.

Nutrition: 593 calories, 24.8g fat, 4.3g fiber, 14.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.67 per serving