While Visions of Pancakes Dance in my Head....(clean and easy pancakes!)

I am not really a pancake girl. I am a french toast most of the time and sometimes a belgium waffle kind of girl (unless we are at Pamela's --- Pittsburgh peeps know what I am talking about. Then I just eat the crunchy edges off the paper thin, stack of deliciousness and leave the soggy middle for my hubby....)

And that is why. It is the sogginess of pancakes that make me gag. And they are like giant sponges for maple syrup. Until they reach capacity and then they just crumble into piles of crumbly gross ness. So not my style. I like the protective egg barrier that comes with french toast. French toast doesn't't selfishly soak up all my syrup. French toast rocks.

But I haven't been buying bread and I don't have a waffle maker (and right now my 2 year old is totally protesting waffles. Pancakes are still cool but waffles are no longer vogue.) and I was majorly jones-ing for something sweet and breakfast-y. Pancakes it is.

Now I based this recipe on the 4 ingredient pancakes over at He and She eat clean (which is a great site for clean yummy recipes.) But after I made it the first time they were pretty dense. I mean really dense. Like a circle of egg from a breakfast sandwich dense (but I did use flour instead of oats because I was out and whole eggs instead of whites so it was probably totally my fault. And the batter wasn't really batter. It was more like a thick, drop cookie consistency. I should have known better.) So I played with it again today and was pleased. And I added some spices--because I can't resist the urge to put ginger in everything. (Anti-inflammatory obsessed right here.)

So here is how I took four ingredient pancakes and made them more complicated. (but still super easy and yummy!) And made enough to have a bunch left over for easy reheating on crazy mornings.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
2 TBS vanilla extract

1 1/2 (ish) cups whole wheat pastry flour (or whatever flour you choose because this recipe can totally be gluten free with just this swap.)

2 TBS cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger

Directions:

Blend the wet ingredients (banana, eggs and vanilla) until well mixed.

Transfer from blender (or mini chopper, or food processor) to a mixing bowl.

Slowly add flour until it is desired consistency. (Like pancake batter, not sugar cookie batter. Lesson learned.)

Mix in spices. And here add whatever you like. I am obsessed with ginger (and cinnamon). And I didn't really  measure. I just threw it in and kind of guessed what the measurements might have been for the purpose of this post.

Spoon onto a hot griddle/large skillet and cook a few minutes on each side.

I also added some mini chocolate chips to a small part of the batter. Feel free to do this if you live with Buddy the Elf a toddler who refuses to eat anything but chocolate, scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese and pomegranates. Then tell her they are special chocolate candy pancakes and cross your fingers that she eats her breakfast before the dog gets to it.

I was also thinking that some pumpkin instead of or in place of one of the bananas might be super yummy too. But then I remembered it is December and no longer time for pumpkins but chocolate and peppermint (but it would still be good....)