Oh hello weekend, a tall stack of fluffy banana streusel pancakes please! Thick and fluffy pancakes so decadent that it’s almost like digging into a stack of banana bread. Topped with nuggets of buttery streusel and caramelized bananas, this is something you can definitely look forward to waking up to!
Fluffy Banana Streusel Pancakes – An Ode to Jethro’s
This will not be relevant to a lot of you because Jethro’s was a local diner in Vancouver, my hometown. But to my fellow Vancouverites, do you guys remember Jethro’s? The place that served pancakes the size of frisbees and not only gave you 1 but a double stacked? It would take me 5 days to finish the pancakes, not even exaggerating.
Sadly they closed down last year during the pandemic and I never got to eat there one last time before they closed. My favourite was their banana bread french toast and any of their pancakes with the large nuggets of streusel on top. So, in an ode to Jethro’s, I made a crossover of the two which is what you see here, fluffy banana streusel pancakes!
The Key Players for Making Fluffy Banana Streusel Pancakes
Instead of making them so overly indulgently large like Jethro’s did, I kept my pancakes closer to the regular serving size. But I did keep the streusel nuggets large because they’re the best part!
To make fluffy pancakes, here the two key ingredients that I use:
- buttermilk
- baking powder
The combination of these two ingredients is magic. The baking powder is activated from the acid in the buttermilk, causing aeration of the batter. And the buttermilk keeps the batter nice and moist even after it’s cooked!
How to Caramelize Bananas
Ok, so when you see the word “caramelize”, just think “hot sugar”. Caramelizing just means heating up sugar until the crystals transform their shape into another molecular structure and some aromatic compounds are released which gives that nutty and warm caramel flavour.
You can use brown or white sugar to caramelize the bananas in this recipe but I used maple syrup.
- Heat up frying pan
- Add in butter and bananas, stir to coat evenly
- Pour over syrup and cook until the syrup is reduced and bananas are lightly browned
More dessert for breakfast ideas:
Raspberry Chocolate Dutch Baby
Caramelized Peach Chocolate Dutch Baby
Recipe for Fluffy Banana Streusel Pancakes:
Fluffy Banana Streusel Pancakes
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted
Banana Pancakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 2 ripe bananas medium sized
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup melted butter unsalted
Caramelized Bananas
- 2 bananas just ripe
- butter unsalted
- maple syrup
Instructions
Streusel
- Combine everything into a bowl and blend the butter in using your hands
- Refrigerate the streusel in fridge for 15 minutes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Roll the streusel into large nuggets about 1.5", size does not need to be uniform
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. The colour of the streusal should be just lightly brown. Set aside and cool on counter for topping pancakes later
Banana Pancakes
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In another bowl, mash bananas until there are no large pieces of banana. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter and mix until combined.
- Pour liquid ingredients into the dry and stir gently until just combined and there are no more visible traces of dry flour
- Using a 1/2 cup scoop, pour batter onto a heated and buttered skillet/pan. Cook for approximately 3 minutes until bubbles appear, then flip and cook until golden brown on both sides.
Caramelized Bananas
- Cut banana into pieces or into halves if you want a more visually beautiful presentation
- Add bananas to a heated and buttered skillet/pan. Pour syrup over bananas and cook until syrup is reduced and the bananas are lightly browned.
Putting It Together
- Add streusel and caramelized bananas on top of pancakes. Pour over with syrup and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a comment below and tag @chocolateandconnie on Instagram.
these fluffy banana streusel pancakes + Jack Johnson’s song of the same name in the background – hello weekend!