Breakfast & Brunch

The Pancakes

Wholesome, healthy pancakes, naturally sweet. I originally found these at Brunch & Cake in Barcelona and then went for a recipe hunt to incorporate them into our brunch regulars. I found a recipe over at Lorraine Elliott's page, which comes pretty close. Apparently her recipe is adapted from this one at Pinch and Swirl…so the recipe has been evolving and you can try different versions and pick which one you like best. 😉 Sadly Brunch & Cake stopped making these, otherwise I would tell you to take the next [flight/train/car/bus/Lime] and go there immediately to try their delicious version.
I only made minor adaptations.
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 2 hrs

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup milk I use coconut milk. Buttermilk also works like a charm.
  • 1/2 cup ricotta You can substitute greek yoghurt or quark.
  • 2 medium ripe bananas You can use one, but I enjoy the banana taste.
  • 3-5 Medjool dates *see note below
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 pack vanilla sugar or Vanilla aroma, if you prefer not to add any sugar.

Instructions
 

  • Put all the good stuff in a blender and blend, blend, blend until beautiful and smooth
  • Now comes the tricky part. You want the pancakes to be brown but not too brown, cooked, but not too cooked. I have made these on a small pan, large pan, and one with mini pancake holes. The latter one was by far the easiest to not overcook things. I have made them on a regular stove and induction stove and nearly burned them on both. On both I first melted either butter or coconut oil on slightly higher than medium heat, before adding the batter, then covered with a top, reduced the heat to medium, and let it cook for a few minutes until the top is somewhat solid. If you wait too long to flip them, they will be very dark.
  • Now, here is the deal: you MUST cover them with tons of fruit and granola. It just makes them extra awesome. The great thing is, even if you didn't manage to flip them before they turn a bit too dark (like me many times), if you cover them with all sorts of toppings, nobody will notice! As long as you didn't let them get charcoil black, they will just taste a bit more toasty. I usually take a big spoon of yoghurt, put it in the middle of the pancake, drizzle with honey, and cover in fruit and granola, leaving just a bit of yoghurt to show in the middle (as you can see in the above picture). If you make many small ones, you can put a bit of yoghurt in between each piece, as below. Mangos, berries, apples all work super well.

Notes

Look at this beauty, so nice and covered in toppings. Do as I say and I do and cover them, too!
I’ve tried making them on these pans, all works. The batter will be pretty thick, so even if you have a big pan, you can put some badder in the middle and ladle on more batter on top, so that it doesn’t cover the full pan. I love the small ones most though. 
*Note on Medjool dates
Because I know you might ask: no, it won’t be the same if you subsitute with normal dates. If you want to add a caramelly sweetness to your pancakes, find yourself some medjool dates. Otherwise leave them out (I made them without for years, before I discovered this was the secret ingredient of the pancakes at Brunch & Cake!).

The Banana Bread

I made many, many, many banana breads in my life and after many, many, many years of recipe trials, I almost gave up on them. They were usually too sweet, too banana-y, too fluffy, too meh. But THEN I came across a key ingredient that changed the banana-game entirely: Medjool dates. They add a caramel-ly density to the banana bread that is simply amazing. So, ladies and gents, I present you the queen of banana breads. It is boyfriend approved. If you want a healthy, sugar-free, sweet, moist, dense, beautiful banana bread, this is it.
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Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 1 hr

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Medjool Dates
  • 2 very ripe bananas + 1 for the top (optional) the more ripe, the sweeter the bread. Too yellow, let alone green bananas are a no-go.
  • 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
  • 3/4 cup coconut flour you can use coconut flakes and shred them
  • 1/4 cup ground oats or porridge. I use this porridge: https://www.mueller.de/p/bio-primo-porridge-fruechte-830895/
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour I use rye, but other whole wheat will do
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 250 ml plain yoghurt Buttermilk works as well
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter You want the good kind, without the added sugars. Pure peanuts!
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
  • pinch salt

Instructions
 

  • Place the dates into a bowl with the buttermilk and let them soak for 10ish minutes
  • Get two of the bananas and a bowl…
  • …and have some fun mashing them until they look like this.
  • Next, add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
  • Process the dates with the milk and peanut butter in a blender until smooth (until there are no more visible chunks of dates).
  • Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and coconut oil. Use a hand mixer on low spead until the coconut oil is well incorporated. Then add the milk and banana mixtures and continue mixing for a few minutes.
  • Now preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Transfer the batter to a pan (coat the pan with cooking spray or coconut oil before). Then slice the remaining banana in half and place it on top.
  • If you like, sprinkle the chopped nuts around the bananas. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes, while the oven is heating up.
  • Bake for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil (so it does not get too dark) and bake another 40-50 minutes. It will be a bit hard to tell when it is ready, the first times I made it, I undercooked it. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, but the bread is quite moist either way and needs to cool down completely before eating it. It is actually best when it had time to cool in the fridge overnight.

Notes

Look at this beauty.
Now go and slap some peanut butter on it and make it even more beautiful. 
 
Mjam! Enjoy!