Banana Pancakes

I tried out my new Cuisinart Griddler this morning.  I had made panninis in it, but this was the first time for the griddle.  The banana pancakes were delicious!

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp.  baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1-3/4 c. buttermilk

4 eggs

1/4 c. melted butter

3/4 cup mashed bananas

3/4 cup chunky-mashed bananas

Blueberries  or other fresh fruit for topping

Pat of butter and maple syrup, if desired, for topping

Powdered sugar for garnish

Mix together the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk and melted butter.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until moistened.  Fold in bananas just before placing on griddle.

Heat griddle to medium hot and grease lightly.  Drop about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.  Cook on first side until bubbles appear.  Finish cooking on other side.  Add a pat of butter, if desired.  Sprinkle liberally with fresh blueberries.  Add maple syrup and dust with confectioner's sugar.

I also made a birthday cake for my daughter this weekend.  It was Piano cake

This was a challenging recipe.  The measurements were metric, which were no problem for me since I have a metric balance.  The recipe called for 2 packets of vanilla sugar.  I had some vanilla sugar that I had made a while ago.  But I didn't know how much was in 2 packets.  I checked online and found each packet contains one tablespoon.  The first time I beat the eggs and sugar for the sponge cake layer, I didn't beat them very long and the mixture was too thin and of low volume.  I made up a new batch and beat the eggs and sugar long enough to get the mixture thick and pale yellow in color before I added the rest of the ingredients.  That was perfect.  I didn't cook the custard mixture long enough to get it thick, which I didn't know until it had cooled--so I reheated and recooled it.  Next time I would cook it a little longer the first time.   I had trouble figuring out how to make the coiled layer with the sponge cake, but my son helped me figure that out.  The chocolate I used was Scharffenberger 99% cacao.  It gave a rich bittersweetness to the chocolate--not exactly for milk chocolate lovers, but if you like very dark chocolate, it was excellent.  By the time we had it all completed, we voted this cake a total success and delicious. It was worth all the effort.