Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Since it's National Pancake Day, I figured that I would come back from my extra-long hiatus and actually post a recipe to celebrate today! I made these a couple days ago and could not stop eating them. I ate a couple for breakfast with maple, and then found myself snacking on them plain for the rest of the day. My almost-two-year-old daughter was giggling when I gave these to her because she was so excited (they combine her two favorite things: bananas and chocolate), and she would have eaten the rest of the batch if I had let her. They were addicting, delicious, and fairly healthy. I'll definitely be making them again soon! (And hopefully, when I do make them again, I'll get a better picture. I was trying to snap a picture on my phone while Lilia was begging to eat another one!)

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
barely adapted from She Bakes Here

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1 Tb. ground flax seed (optional, but it adds lots of awesome health benefits like omega 3s and fiber!)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup water
2 tbsp  oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed (I hate the texture of banana lumps in baked goods, so I use an immersion blender to totally liquefy the banana, but mashing them with a fork is fine too!)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk in wet ingredients until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle. Cook until bubbles appear and hold their shape, then flip and continue cooking another 1-2 minutes on other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Makes about 10 pancakes.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

These muffins are absolutely amazing. Want to know how amazing? Last night, I skipped dessert and had another one of these instead. Yeah. If that's not a shining review, I don't know what is (especially since dessert was this delicious cake, it's one of my favorites).

Now normally I'm not too big on banana bread, and mashing up the bananas literally makes me gag (I have weird issues with over-ripe bananas). But I will mash bananas any day for these delicious muffins. As an added bonus, they are healthier than normal (with whole wheat, honey, and light sour cream). I made half of these with cinnamon chips (like chocolate chips, but cinnamon flavored, Hershey's makes a good one) and half with a streusel topping...and both were great, but to be totally honest I think I liked the ones with the cinnamon chips better (which is great because that cuts even more fat and calories). I had all sorts of intentions of freezing part of these to pull out for quick breakfasts later in the week, but I doubt they'll last until the end of the day.

  
Whole Wheat Banana MuffinsRecipe adapted from Cooking Light via Our Best Bites


Muffins:
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 t. cinnamon
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. mashed very ripe banana (I used 5 small bananas)
1/3 c. low-fat sour cream or plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel Topping (optional):
1/2 c. pecans, chopped
6 Tb. packed brown sugar
3 Tb. whole wheat flour
2 Tb. cold butter

OR 1 cup cinnamon chips (instead of streusel)


Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin pan with 18-20 paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar, honey, and butter. Add each egg in one at a time, mixing until fluffy and well blended. Add the mashed banana, sour cream, and vanilla. Slowly add in remaining muffin ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly (so the cups are about 2/3 full) among 18-20 muffin tins. Combine the streusel ingredients and sprinkle them on top of the batter, or sprinkle with cinnamon chips if desired. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Creamy Banana Pudding

This dessert is based on a recipe I found online for Magnolia Bakery's Banana Pudding. I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant, and this is the only thing that I have been wanting to eat for the last week. I made some and ate it something like three times a day until it was gone. Good thing I'm almost ready to have this baby so that I (hopefully) won't be doing that again! But let me just say, it was totally worth. This is creamy, sweet, and delicious. Enjoy!

Creamy Banana Pudding

1 pkg. (4 serving size) Banana or Vanilla instant pudding
1/2 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup cold water
1 vanilla bean
1/2 pkg. (12 oz.) vanilla wafers
1 pkg. (16 oz.) light cool whip
6 bananas, thinly sliced

1. Mix pudding (I used sugar free) with sweetened condensed milk and water. Whisk until well combined. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pudding mixture and stir to combine. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Fold in 1/2 of the cool whip.
2. In trifle bowl or large glass bowl, layer 1/3 of the vanilla wafers. Top with 1/3 pudding mixture, 1/3 bananas, and 1/3 cool whip. repeat layers three times, ending with cool whip. Top with a couple of crushed vanilla wafers or shaved chocolate. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours (but it is best if refrigerated overnight).