Aloha! It is almost time to travel to Hawaii. This week’s pancake is a tasty flapjack favored from the islands – Banana Macadamia Pancake. I’ve been reading about the pancakes at Boots & Kimo’s in Kailau – Banana pancakes with a Macadamia nut sauce. I was looking for a different type of pancake to make next and found a recipe on Epicurious for Banana Macadamia Pancake. Purrrrfect!

These were very similar to the previous buttermilk pancakes with the addition of a tablespoon of melted butter. You also folded in chopped banana and macadamia nuts. I couldn’t decide if I should mash up the banana or not. I decided not to and instead quartered the banana and added small slices. It was perfect. The cake was able to cook around the fruit. Sometimes if the fruit is too large, the pancake will be raw around the fruit. We enjoyed the crunchiness but they are very rich with the nuts and extra butter. I also made the orange butter which was very good but I highly recommend using unsalted butter. I only had salted and it detracted from the flavor.

These pancakes will definitely “break your mouth”

Banana Macadamia Pancakes with Orange Butter
Gourmet | December 2002
Yield: Makes 15 (4-inch) pancakes

Ingredients
For orange butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

For pancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ripe large banana
1/2 cup salted roasted macadamia nuts (2 1/2 oz), chopped

Accompaniment: maple syrup

Preparation
Make orange butter:
Stir together all orange butter ingredients in a small bowl until combined well.

Make pancakes:

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together buttermilk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Cut banana into bits and fold into batter along with nuts. (Batter will be very thick.)

Brush a 12-inch nonstick skillet with some of remaining tablespoon melted butter and heat over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 3, pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake into hot skillet and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a large plate and loosely cover with foil to keep warm, then make more pancakes, brushing skillet with butter for each batch. Serve with orange butter.

Batter will be a little more lumpy than regular pancakes

Risin’ high and fluffy