Irish Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes with Sweet Apple Topping

To download a copy of the recipe for Irish Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes with Apple Topping in cookbook-style format, click HERE.

With St. Patrick’s Day rapidly approaching, it’s once again a good time to look to our Irish friends for a wee bit of inspiration. As we’ve done here in the past, it’s again a great pleasure to present something in time for St. Patrick’s Day that doesn’t involve regrettable stereotypes or green food coloring.

This week’s recipe is for oatmeal-banana pancakes served with a sweet apple topping. From a culinary standpoint, one of the things I find so interesting about this traditional Irish approach to pancakes is that the oatmeal is not used as is, but rather is ground to a flour-like texture and combined with whole wheat flour. Once the other ingredients are added and the batter ladled onto a hot griddle, the result is a delicious pancake with a very pleasing texture.

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin.

• Although the recipe you can download from the link above is done in a traditional cookbook format (ingredients list first, then cooking method), I’ve heard from a number of readers that they prefer to cook directly from the recipe as it’s posted on this site. To make it easier for anyone who would like to do that, beginning today each new recipe post will include an ingredients list.

• Regarding the oatmeal itself, in this recipe I’ve used rolled oats, the general use oatmeal found in most households, including mine. For true Irish authenticity, you might instead want to use steel cut Irish oats, a fuller grain also known by the funny-sounding (at least to my infantile sense of humor) name of Pinhead Oats.

• If the buttermilk called for in the recipe is not available, acidulated milk can be substituted. (Add 2 Tbsp of white vinegar to 2-1/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp room temperature low-fat milk, and let rest for a few minutes.)

• These pancakes are well accompanied by a side of eggs and/or bacon. (In the photo above, I’ve added simple scrambled eggs with the decidedly American topping of ketchup.)

This recipe makes 5-6 servings.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need.

Topping: ¼ cup firm-textured butter substitute; ¼ cup packed brown sugar; 4 large apples, peeled and sliced; ¼ tsp ground cinnamon; ¼ tsp ground nutmeg; ¼ tsp salt; and 2 tsp fresh lemon juice.

Pancake Batter: ¼ cup uncooked oatmeal; 2 fresh egg whites (not the kind in a carton); pinch cream of tartar; 2 cups whole wheat flour; ¼ tsp salt; 3 egg substitute eggs; 2-1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

Other Ingredients: firm-textured butter substitute (for coating the griddle); 2 bananas, sliced into thin circles; and pancake syrup (optional).

To prepare the topping:

Melt the butter substitute over moderate heat in a medium saucepan.

Add the sugar and stir until melted.

Add the remaining topping ingredients, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the apples are soft but not mushy. Set aside until ready to put on the pancakes.

To make the pancake batter:

Place the oatmeal in a mini-processor and process into a flour-like powder.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl, and whisk until soft peaks form.

In a bowl, combine the flour, oatmeal and salt.

Add the egg substitute and buttermilk to the bowl, and stir until combined and smooth.

Fold in the beaten egg whites to form the batter.

To prepare and serve the pancakes:

Working in batches, ladle pancake-size portions of batter onto a hot griddle that has been coated with melted butter substitute. Cook until the tops are bubbly and the bottoms are browned, about two minutes.

Place some banana slices on each pancake.

Turn each pancake over, banana-side down, and cook until the bottoms are browned, about another minute. Place on a plate and repeat, cooking in batches until all the batter is finished.

To serve, place a serving of pancakes on a plate and top with some of the apple topping. Add syrup if desired. Serve with eggs and/or bacon.

To download a copy of the recipe for Irish Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes with Apple Topping in cookbook-style format, click HERE.

There’s an Irish proverb which says, “A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle.” Here’s hoping your cabin is always filled with the comforting aroma of good food, including Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes with Sweet Apple Topping.

Please visit again next week for another tasty recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Baked Orange-Banana Nut Donuts

To download a copy of the recipe for Baked Orange-Banana Nut Donuts, click HERE.

A warm greeting to new subscriber Raquel! Welcome!

Donuts: what a beautiful word. As treats go, if you’re thinking it’s got to be hard to beat fresh-baked donuts, you’re right. Some form of these warm, sweet delights are frequently found on Sunday mornings in the Kissing the Cook household. (That a batch of donuts can be put together for breakfast on a Sunday morning is proof of how fast and simple making them really is.) Now it’s time to share them.

Some readers got an advance look at an early version of this recipe on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. This week, it’s my pleasure to give you the upgraded version, complete with photographs.

The orange-banana flavor combination used in this recipe is one I learned – and came to love – when I was a small child and my mother would give me containers of orange-banana juice to drink. Baked donuts give it a whole new platform from which to shine. Another feature of this recipe is that it avoids being simply donut-shaped orange-banana nut bread. The flavor may be orange-banana nut, but the mouth-feel is all donut.

                

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin.

• You’ll need a donut-baking pan to make these, of course, but believe me when I say it’s worth getting. I don’t know that any baking pan can change someone’s life, but a donut pan comes pretty close.

• I used fat-free half-and-half in these donuts, but feel free to use skim milk instead.

• In some of the photographs, you may notice that I’m mixing ingredients by hand using a spatula. This is just something I do every so often to remind myself of why it’s easier to use some kind of electric mixer. When you make these, feel free to use your hand mixer, Kitchen Aid, etc.

This recipe makes about 12 donuts.

Begin preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Use the preheating oven to lightly toast 1 to 1-1/2 cups of chopped walnuts.

To make the batter:

Mash 2 medium bananas to a creamy consistency and set aside. (Two medium bananas should make about a cup of mashed banana.)

Blend 7 Tbsp of softened butter substitute (a firm-textured brand is best) and ¾ cup of granulated sugar.

Add 2 egg substitute eggs and mix well.

Sift in 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp nutmeg into the bowl and mix to combine.

Add 1/3 cup of fat-free half-and-half, 1/3 cup of orange juice, and 1 tsp vanilla, and stir to combine.

Stir in the mashed bananas, and stir to combine.

To prepare for baking:

Lightly spray the baking pan with cooking spray. Put the batter in a pastry bag or a food storage bag with the corner removed. Fill each of the donut portions of the tray 3/4 full.

Bake until golden, about 16 minutes, turning the tray half-way for even baking.

When the donuts are almost finished baking, make the icing for the topping as follows:

Mix 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar and 2 Tbsp of orange juice till smooth. The mixture should be liquid, but thick enough not to be drippy.

Now let’s complete our donuts!

When the donuts have finished baking, let them rest in the baking pan for a minute or two, then remove them. (The side that was in the pan will be darker than the side that was on top. This is normal.)

While the donuts are still warm, dip the tops (the lighter-colored half) in the icing.

 Turn the iced donut with the frosting side up.

Sprinkle with the toasted nuts.

Repeat for the remaining donuts.

To download a copy of the recipe for Baked Orange-Banana Nut Donuts, click HERE. 

Now prepare to revel in the unique glory that can only be found in a fresh-baked donut!

Please visit again next week for another delicious recipe, kitchen tested and home-cook friendly for your pleasure. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Bananas Anna

To download the recipe for Bananas Anna, click HERE.

We recently featured a recipe for Pommes Anna, the classic side dish made from sliced potatoes that have been arranged as layered petals, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with thyme and rosemary, sprinkled with grated parmesan, and baked to glorious deliciousness.

That got me thinking: Why should potatoes have all the fun?

From this beginning comes this week’s recipe: Bananas Anna, a new dessert made from sliced bananas that have been arranged as layered petals, brushed with a mixture of brown sugar and melted butter substitute, seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, sprinkled with toasted coconut flakes, set on a graham cracker crust, baked to glorious deliciousness and graced with dark rum sauce. Just as important, “Bananas Anna” sounds really cool when you say it out loud.

Think of it as a Pommes Anna parody you can eat for dessert.

This recipe makes six servings.

First, let’s make our graham cracker crust.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven is preheating, make 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs by rolling or crushing about 8 low-fat graham crackers. (Avoid the cinnamon kind; we’ll be adding our own cinnamon and you don’t want to overdo it!)

In a bowl, combine the crumbs with 3 Tbsp sugar; 3 Tbsp plus 2 tsp butter substitute, melted and warm; a pinch of ground cinnamon; and a pinch of ground nutmeg, and mix well. The finished batter should have the consistency of wet sand.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon pad, spread the batter out to a little more than 1/8” thick. (You’ll just need to make sure it’s larger than the pan you’ll be using to cook the bananas.) Press down using fingers or the flat bottom of a glass.

Bake for until light brown and firm to the touch, about 12 minutes, and set aside to cool.

While the graham cracker crust is cooling, we’ll make the  brown sugar sauce.

Melt ½ cup of firm-textured butter substitute in a small saucepan over low heat. Add 6 Tbsp of brown sugar and stir till dissolved.

Add ¾ tsp cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and ¼ tsp salt, and stir until combined. Remove from the heat and set aside till needed.

Next come the bananas.

Increase the oven to 400 degrees. Use the heating oven to lightly toast ¾ cup of shredded coconut.

Using a brush, coat the inside of an 8” non-stick pan with some of the brown sugar sauce.

We’ll do four bananas, working one at a time. Peel a banana and cut into 1/8” slices.

Place one of the slices in the center of the pan. Working around the first banana slice, arrange the next slices in an overlapping pattern.

Repeat with the next banana slices, working around the edge in an overlapping pattern. (Be careful when arranging the slices. Since the finished dessert will be turned upside-down for serving, this bottom layer will eventually be the top, so it should be done very neatly.)

Brush this layer lightly with some of the brown sugar sauce.

Repeat the above for the remaining bananas, brushing each layer and sprinkling coconut over every second layer, until all have been used. When done, press down gently to compress the banana cake slightly.

Turn the heat on to medium, and let the bananas sear till browned on the bottom, usually five to six minutes. Using a soft spatula, gently go around the edges of the pan to loosen the cooked banana cake. Place a plate or small baking sheet face down on top of the pan.

Turn the dish and the pan over together to turn the banana cake upside down, so that what was the bottom has now become the top.

Carefully remove the pan.

Gently slide the banana cake onto the graham cracker crust.

Using a knife, trim around the edges of the crust to remove any excess. Place the baking sheet with the banana cake into the oven till heated through, 5 – 10 minutes.

While the banana cake is heating, combine 1-1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar; 2 Tbsp dark rum; and 4 Tbsp skim milk to form the rum sauce.

Once the banana cake is out of the oven, garnish it with any remaining toasted coconut.

To serve:

Use a squeeze bottle to apply some of the glaze to a serving plate. Place a slice of the banana cake on top to serve. Serve warm.

To download the recipe for Bananas Anna, click HERE.

You can enjoy Bananas Anna as both an after-meal dessert and on its own as a light treat! (I also think it would make an especially fantastic surprise finish to a meal that included a Pommes Anna side dish.)

Visit again next week for another kitchen-tested, home-cook friendly recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)