Blueberry Flax Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas

It seems that every food blogger has got their quintessential pancake post, so I figured now is as good a time as any to throw mine into the ring. There is a saturation of them out there, which kept me from posting my favorite pancakes for a bit, but then I resigned to the fact that it's because people love pancakes, and the more options, the better. 

Blueberry and banana has long been one of my favorite fruit combinations. By adding  brown sugar and bumping up the nutritional value by adding a bit of flax meal, slightly curbs the guilt I feel when eating these. Because they are some rich pancakes - you don't even need to add butter! 

I've tried tons of pancake recipes over the years, and I think this one is my favorite... for now. Marion Cunningham's buttermilk pancake was a true workhorse for me for a long time, but Lucian K. Truscott IV's rendition (yep, IV) may have permanently replaced it. For one thing, it calls for milk, not buttermilk. I don't know about most people, but the only reason I ever bought buttermilk was to make pancakes. And the rest of it would usually spoil by the time I felt up to making them again. You can use buttermilk instead, which I've tried once, but I do prefer regular milk here.

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 Tbsp unsalted butter,  3 of which need to be melted and slightly cooled 
1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup flax meal (you can grind up some flax seed in a spice grinder - same thing)
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 - 3 medium to large bananas
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon (~1/8 tsp)

Preheat oven to 200* and place a baking sheet on the middle rack. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and foamy. Stir in milk, oil and butter. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. You'll have some of the flax seed casings left over - go ahead and dump them in. Gently whisk dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Lumps are okay.

Place a nonstick griddle or pan over medium heat. Let the batter rest for a few minutes while the pan heats up. The trick to not having a crummy first batch of pancakes is only in having the pan hot enough. Pour in about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Top each pancake with a handful of blueberries. Flip when bubbles are bursting on the top of the cakes and the edges look dry. Continue cooking for about another minute. Place pancakes in oven to keep warm, or serve them immediately for any impatient eaters. But they'll have to wait to have them with the warm, gooey, caramelized bananas.

In the same pan you cooked the pancakes, dial the heat back to low and add the brown sugar and remaining butter. Slice the bananas lengthwise, then half them (or cut into thirds if you have very large ones). Place cut side down in the pan and sprinkle with the cinnamon. Raise heat to medium low and cook for about 3 minutes a side, moving them around in the pan to keep the sugar from burning. Top the pancakes with bananas and melted butter/brown sugar from pan. Add a touch of maple syrup if you want to be really decadent. 

This recipe is an adaptation of of Lucian Truscott IV's Mississippi Pancakes and Haydee's Bananas from his article "With Pancakes, Every Day Is Sunday" from the New York Times.