Banana, Blueberry + Honey Pancakes

Serves 3-4

Dairy-free + Refined sugar-free

Gluten-free option: Swap oats for brown rice flour

Long weekends call for taking it slow and extra indulgence. After a beautiful sleep, this is a fabulous way to start your day with a late breakfast/ brunch. Something that feels ‘not just your everyday’ kind of affair yet also makes you feel good on the inside. This is the absolute best breakfast for a weekend of activities, socializing, or even just taking it slow.

The pancakes are very simple, few ingredients, blend 'em up and cook, easy as!

The extras are if you want to go that extra mile ( remember you’ve got all weekend ha), not overly complicated and if you make extra they’re both really great additions to porridge or a bowl of fruit for a simple breakfast in the following days.

As we move into the colder seasons and the vast variety of fresh fruit gets slimmer, frozen blueberries are great to have handy in the freezer and if your in Central Otago like me, we are spoilt for choice with local honey, and fresh thyme is almost everywhere you walk at the moment, so if you don’t have some in the garden this is a great invitation to explore the hills and forage a few sprigs for this recipe.

Banana, Blueberry + Honey Pancakes

Ingredients

Pancakes:

2 large bananas, peeled

3 free-range eggs

1 ½ cup oats

1 ½ tsp baking powder

Light olive oil or coconut oil for cooking

Honey coconut crunch:

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/3 cup coconut chips

1/3 cup almonds, roughly chopped

1 tbsp honey 

2 sprigs of fresh thyme, roughly chopped

2 tsp vanilla extract

Roasted blueberries

2 cups blueberries, frozen and thawed or fresh

1 tbsp honey

Zest of ½ orange

1 – ½ cups Greek yoghurt or Coconut yoghurt

Extra honey for serving

Method

Blueberries:

Preheat the oven to 180deg.

Place blueberries, honey and orange zest into a small roasting dish. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring the berries halfway through to evenly coat in hot honey. Once roasted remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Honey coconut crunch:

Using a small bowl, mix together all coconut crunch ingredients and transfer to a lined baking tray. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown in colour, allow to cool for 20 minutes, it will crisp up once cool.

Yoghurt:

Place yoghurt in a small bowl, add half of the blueberries to the yoghurt and fold in with only 3 movements. You don’t want the blueberries to be fully combined.

Pancakes:

Place all ingredients except oil into a blender and blend for 1 minute until well combined and slightly aerated.

Place a large pan on medium heat, once hot grease the pan with 1 tbsp oil, pour some of the mixtures into 3 small pancakes, cook until the pancakes start to slight bubble in the centre, about 2-3 minutes , flip and cook for another 1½ minutes.

Repeat with remaining batter, greasing pan between batches.

Assemble:

Stack two pancakes on each plate then dollop a spoonful of yoghurt in the middle of each pancake stack.

Place another pancake on top of each stack and dollop another spoonful of yoghurt on top.

Divide roasted blueberries between all plates, scattering them on top of the yoghurt and some around the pancakes.

Sprinkle a small handful of honey coconut crunch on top of each pancake stack. Drizzle with extra honey if needed.