Wholesome Cook
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Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes with Date and Banana Butter

Warm, delightfully fluffy on the inside and lightly crunchy on the out. Sounding good already?

As a testament of how wonderful they truly are I’m going to confess to a little kitchen mis-hap: I burnt the first one. And eventhough it was pretty black on the outside, I just couldn’t resist but to eat the rest. You don’t often come across food that tastes good eventhough you’ve burnt the living daylights out of the first batch, do you? Imagine how good they are cooked to perfection.

I don’t make pancakes as often as I should, or at least, I’d like to. Mr Chipconnoisseur doesn’t eat them much, but I’ll definitely make these again and who knows, he might just want to jump on the breakfast pancake wagon. The recipe?

Borrowed from the $2 Gary Mehigan’s Comfort Food, a second in the mini series sold by newsagents across town as part of the Daily Telegraph’s / Sunday Telegraph’s Food Month . If you’ve missed out on the books (today is the last day), you may still be lucky to pick up a few random ones  – one of the city stores had Gary’s mini book as late as this week. Ask around. They are worth it and Gary’s is one of my favourites – it truly is full of warm and cosy comfort food ideas. Perfect for Winter.

Oh and when it comes to bananas, which are quite pricey in Australia at the moment, I buy mine from the “seconds” corner for a little over $3 a kilo, peel them and freeze in zip lock bags. They are great for smoothies and making instant banana mousse.

Makes 8

Fluffy ricotta pancakes with date and banana butter

The recipe comes from Gary Mehigan’s Comfort Food cookbook. I have adapted it by making the date and banana butter without the butter.

Pancakes

  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 300ml milk
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 75g ricotta (recipe says firm, but I used creamy)
  • pinch of salt
  • vegetable oil for frying

Date banana butter

  • 4 fresh dates, pitted
  • 1 banana, peeled

Pancakes: sift the flour into a bowl. Add salt and sugar. Mix milk and egg in a measuring jug and add to the flour, whisking until there are no lumps. Melt butter in a small pan until it bubbles and becomes lightly brown. Add melted hot butter to the batter and whisk to combine, then add ricotta and mix to combine – some lumps may remain, but that’s perfectly ok.

Heat a little oil in a heavy-based pan over medium heat. Add a ladleful of batter to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until air bubbles become visible on the top. Flip the pancake and cook on the other side for a further 3-4 minutes or until nice and golden brown. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Date and banana butter: using a stick blender, whizz bananas and dates until light and creamy.

Serving: serve pancakes warm with a good spoonful of the banana and date topping.

Note: pancakes will keep in the fridge for a couple of days – just cover them with cling film. Reheat in a lightly oiled pan or in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

36 comments

laura June 2, 2011 at 9:16 am

oh marty, if Mr C wont share in your pancake obsession, I’ll gladly eat his share.

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Wholesome Cook June 2, 2011 at 9:37 am

Haha! Consider yourself invited!

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lateraleating June 2, 2011 at 9:23 am

Yum! Love the idea of the date-banana “butter”.

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Wholesome Cook June 2, 2011 at 2:46 pm

It’s such a good idea isn’t it? Perfect as a dessert on it’s own or afternoon tea with the pancakes!

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chocolatesuze June 2, 2011 at 11:18 am

the date banana butter sounds freaking awesome!

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Wholesome Cook June 2, 2011 at 12:30 pm

And it is!!

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betty June 2, 2011 at 12:33 pm

looks gr8 i cant decide whehter to make these, or the grilled porto bello with egg breakkie this sunday..!!

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Wholesome Cook June 2, 2011 at 2:29 pm

Oooh tough choice! If I was making my decision today I’d say pancakes, but I always feel like mushrooms! Sorry, I’m incapable of helping!

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Sherilyn June 2, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Date and Banana – what more could you want and then you throw ricotta in the mix. Three of my favourite ingredients. Beautiful!

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Wholesome Cook June 2, 2011 at 8:42 pm

Thank you. They are my favourite pancake recipe! From now on for exactly the same reason!. :-)

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OohLookBel June 2, 2011 at 10:32 pm

I made the same pancakes from the same booklet, but without the butter. They are good, aren’t they? So light. Yours look fabulous; love the setting.

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Wholesome Cook June 3, 2011 at 5:45 am

My thank you. And yes, the pancakes caught my eye straight away with the word: fluffy in the name. So good.

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jingotron June 3, 2011 at 8:56 am

Yum! My boyfriend is the pancake chef, I’ll have to see if he’s adventurous enough to test this one out. Otherwise I’ll definitely be giving it a try!

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JasmyneTea June 4, 2011 at 4:26 pm

Beautiful photos, I’m wishing I had seen this recipe earlier, because all I had today was an apple and a pear for breakfast :(

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Wholesome Cook June 5, 2011 at 11:21 am

Thanks Jasmyntea! You could make some for afternoon tea today and have the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow :-)

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sally June 5, 2011 at 9:28 am

I’m intrigued by the date and banana butter. It sounds like a wonderful topping for pancakes!

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Phuoc'n Delicious June 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm

This is the second time I’ve seen this recipe today. They look incredible and the date and banana “butter” sounds delish!

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Wholesome Cook June 5, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Third time should be the one when you make them :-)

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penny aka jeroxie June 5, 2011 at 8:47 pm

I do love LOVE ricotta pancakes. And now that I have real maple syrup…. they taste even better

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Wholesome Cook June 5, 2011 at 9:15 pm

Oh yes! Canadian maple syrup, sooo good. And natural. Great to use here if you like a little more sweetness.

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Maria @ Scandifoodie June 6, 2011 at 9:29 am

I just made ricotta pancakes too, they are so good! These look delicious!

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jingotron June 7, 2011 at 12:21 pm

We made these over the weekend for a brunch, sooooo good! And the batter kept until the next day for leftovers too.

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Wholesome Cook June 7, 2011 at 12:53 pm

Oh wow! Good to know! I simply cooked all pancakes straight away.

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Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide June 8, 2011 at 9:55 am

Love the sound of the date/banana butter and I’m not even big on bananas! Ricotta pancakes always sound so good and I still haven’t made them.

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Wholesome Cook June 8, 2011 at 12:29 pm

Thanks Greg, there are always things I’d like to try making but don’t… Having a recipe blog helps with the encouragement!

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Heidi - Apples Under My Bed June 8, 2011 at 1:49 pm

Revolutionary – the date banana butter without the butter! I love it :) Ooooh fluffy pancake goodness. YUM.
Heidi xo

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Wholesome Cook June 8, 2011 at 3:00 pm

Gary gets the credit for the idea, I get credit for excluding the butter. Just like another episode of Good Chef, Bad Chef! :-)

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Kelly June 8, 2011 at 9:21 pm

I love the use of ricotta in pancakes – it’s surprisingly light and full of protein – an ideal breakfast option. The date banana butter looks gorgeous – have to try that one for sure! Thanks.

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Wholesome Cook June 8, 2011 at 9:34 pm

You are most welcome!

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Sara @ Belly Rumbles June 8, 2011 at 9:29 pm

Reading your post I realised I haven’t made pancakes for ages. Think it is about time I do. Date and banana butter, oh wow, totally yummy.

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Christina June 9, 2011 at 3:17 pm

I have just seen your recipe above – funny I made banana pancakes yesterday – I would not have thought to use up some left over ricotta in my recipe. Will try it next time. Usually put yoghurt in the mixture for added taste and creaminess.

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Wholesome Cook June 9, 2011 at 5:36 pm

I’m with you – never thought of putting ricotta into the pancakes until I came across Gary’s recipe. But it works! Yoghurt is a good and new idea too – I’ve never used it myself.

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Buckwheat pancakes with banana and date butter - gluten free June 16, 2011 at 9:20 am

[…] = 'wpp-258'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true,"ui_cobrand":"Gluten Free Me"};Wholesome Cook recently posted a recipe on her blog for fluffy ricotta pancakes (with the word fluffy in front you […]

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Dolly June 20, 2011 at 8:03 pm

DELISH!

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Erin@The Food Mentalist July 25, 2011 at 2:12 pm

YUMMO! I didnt realise this was in the little book. I will have to dig it out and whip these beauties up :)

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Buckwheat Pancakes with Banana and Date Butter - Gluten Free | Gluten Free Works September 12, 2011 at 11:41 pm

[…] Wholesome Cook recently posted a recipe on her blog for fluffy ricotta pancakes (with the word fluffy in front you probably guessed they aren’t gluten free) with data and banana butter which caught my eye. I have made gluten free pancakes before but only from the Vitarium packet mix, however I had heard that buckwheat flour is very good for pancakes. I therefore decided to give these ones a go substituting the self raising flour for buckwheat flour and baking powder. […]

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