Barefoot Bloggers: Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

Yes, it's time for another episode of "Barefoot Bloggers" featuring Banana Sour Cream Pancakes. This recipe was chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. I make pancakes from scratch all the time for my kids, so at first this recipe didn't seem that exciting to me, but the pancakes were actually quite good and my kids really liked them. I think the lemon zest and the vanilla extract really added something great to the batter. The recipe I usually use is from one of the older Joy of Cooking cookbooks and is pretty similar but does not include sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. I made a few minor changes to Ina's recipe (my changes are included as notes below)--I added more milk because we don't like our pancakes quite as thick as she apparently does--and the pancakes were STILL pretty thick even with the additional milk I added.. I also added 3 T melted butter to the batter, thereby eliminating the need for butter on the pan or griddle. I used a non-stick pan for cooking. You can make this batter the night before if you like, but you may need to add additional milk to the batter in the morning before cooking. Another easy way to save time is to measure out the dry ingredients into a bowl or ziplock and then add the liquid ingredients in the morning. When my kids were younger and I made pancakes A LOT, I used to measure out several ziplocks of dry ingredients at a time in an effort to make my life just a bit easier! You can also substitute another fruit for the bananas (berries, peaches, etc) or serve them without any fruit at all. I made these for dinner the other night because, in our house, whenever I can't think of anything for dinner, I make breakfast! We all agreed that we would definitely make these pancakes again!

INA GARTEN'S BANANA SOUR CREAM PANCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (NOTE: I used about 3/4 t kosher salt)
1/2 cup sour cream (NOTE: I used light sour cream)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk (NOTE: I used about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 C skim milk)
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (NOTE: Anywhere from 1/2 to 1 t should be fine and if you don't have a lemon-just make it without the zest and it will be fine)
Unsalted butter (NOTE: I added 3 T melted butter to the batter)
2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
Pure maple syrup


Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles.(NOTE: If you've added melted butter to the batter and you are using a non-stick skillet you can skip the previous step.) Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, (NOTE: Again, if you've added butter to the batter, no need to wipe out the pan--just keep cooking!) and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.