How The Banana Saved Breakfast!

Making Swedish pancakes has been a Russell tradition ever since our wonderful friend Kevin introduced us to his family recipe. In Kevin's family, they like to call them "skinny pancakes." Basically, they are a thin pancake similar to a French crepe. The main difference between a Swedish pancake and a French crepe is the addition of sugar in the batter of the former; while French crepes rely on the filling to add to the sweetness. We've been making Kevin's family recipe for almost 10 years while perfecting our own orange sauce to go along with it. 

Last Sunday the girls really wanted to have some skinny pancakes and since it had been a while since we made them we decided to indulge. The problem was that I had been too lazy to go to the grocery store because of the torrential rain we'd had all week. We had all of the ingredients to make the skinny pancakes, except we were missing one egg. Just ONE! The unfortunate thing was that our neighbors had just left for church so we couldn't sneak into their chicken coop for an egg. 

I had no idea what to substitute an egg for. When Matt did a little research I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you could use a banana in place of an egg in baked goods such as cookies, cakes, waffles and pancakes. As it turned out, I had ONE banana left in the fruit bowl! 

We were very curious to see if the banana would leave a slight banana taste in the pancakes, but no! There was no banana taste at all! We wouldn't have been disappointed either way but what we were most impressed with was the fact that the banana didn't change the texture of the pancake. They were still nice and thin and exactly the way they should be! The only thing Matt would suggest when substituting banana in baked goods would be to mash it up before adding it to the batter. It isn't necessary, but it will cut down on the time you spend mashing/mixing the batter together. 

I won't be posting Kevin's family recipe for Swedish Skinny Pancakes, but here is an Allrecipes.com recipe that is fairly close to it! We do use a well seasoned crepe pan to make these. I don't know how they would turn out without one, but it's worth a try. Substitute the eggs with a couple of bananas if you wish! Enjoy!

Easy Swedish Pancakes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs with a wire whisk. Mix in milk, flour, sugar, salt, and melted butter.
2. Preheat a non-stick electric skillet to medium heat. Pour a thin layer of batter on skillet, and spread to edges. Cook until top surface appears dry. Cut into 2 or 4 sections, and flip with a spatula. Cook for another 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Roll each pancake up, and serve.

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."

~ John Gunther ~