Buckwheat Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Chocolate Mousse: An Amazing Breakfast Treat

I’ve said it plenty of time before, breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I’m usually pretty varied with my breakfasts, while keeping things fairly healthy. Since moving to London my breakfasts have mostly consisted of cereal and a piece of fruit that I can eat quickly before heading out to work. I’ve made myself porridge twice but it’s definitely not been up to my usual standards.

This weekend, I decided to treat myself to an extra special breakfast – pancakes! I still need to gather a wider range of ingredients for my baking cupboard, but did had an overripe banana and a few chocolate chips and a bag of buckwheat flour at my disposal, so banana chocolate chip pancakes was it was to be.

Banana is the magic ingredient here, as not only did it add natural sweetness to the pancake mix but also replaced the egg in the batter, adding moistness and binding properties. I also had the last remnants of a jar of peanut butter so in that went too, along with a pinch of mixed spice which always compliments the flavour of banana.

While the pancakes were cooking I hunted for something to serve them with and hit a snag. I had no yoghurt, jam, sauce, syrup, nutella, berries, or any more peanut butter with which to serve them. I could have eaten them on their own but I like dipping or spreading my pancakes with something – it’s part of the enjoyment of eating them. Then I saw a small glass of chocolate mousse that I’d made earlier in the week…..ohhhh chocolate mousse on warm pancake, that would work!

I assembled the pancakes, added a dollop of the dark chocolate mousse and scurried away to my room to eat them in bed. Warm pancakes with chunks of sweet banana, melty chocolate chips served with cold light and airy dark chocolate mousse is amazing! I believe that all pancakes should be served with chocolate mousse in future. The combination is fantastic! The light airy mousse was rich and silky smooth while being the perfect soft and spreadable consistency. The little bubbles dissolving in the mouth and melting into the warm pancakes. Best thing I’ve eaten all week!

I happily devoured the lot and didn’t feel the remotest bit guilty about eating chocolate mousse for breakfast. The pancakes themselves are egg-less, butter-less and sugar-less so I feel justified in being a bit more extravagant with the accompaniment. The chocolate mousse in question is also dairy free and contains only 40g sugar in the entire recipe (serves 6 and I only used half of 1) so it didn’t feel too sweet or dessert-like. In fact they are probably healthier than many sugary cereals or jam slathered slices of toast people eat for breakfast without batting an eye. Pancakes and chocolate mousse, who’d have thought?! So so good, you’ve got to try it!

The perfect bank holiday weekend breakfast. I should also mention It’s an essential requirement to eat them on a tray, in bed, while still in your PJ’s.

Buckwheat Banana, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

4 tbsp buckwheat flour

1 tbsp dark chocolate chips

½ tsp mixed spice

½ tsp baking powder

1 large banana (¾ batter and ¼ to serve)

1 tbsp smooth peanut butter

4-6 tbsp milk*

1 tsp oil

To Serve

Banana slices

Large scoop of chocolate mousse

OR, chocolate sauce, nutella, yogurt, peanut butter, fruit compote, maple syrup etc

Method

Heat the oven to 75C and place a plate inside to warm up.

Weigh the buckwheat flour, chocolate chips, mixed spice and baking powder into a small mixing bowl.

Slice the banana into thin slices and reserve 5-6 slices for serving. Roughly chop the remaining banana and add to the dry mix.

Add the peanut butter on top along with 4 tbsp milk. Mix to form a batter. Add more milk as required until you have a thick batter that will drop off the end of the spoon, but is not too runny.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Spoon the batter into the pan in 4 blobs to form 4 pancakes, leaving room between each one.

Allow to cool gently for 1 minute, until bubbles start to appear on the surface and the edges are just set. Flip each pancake over quickly and allow to cool for a further 30-45 seconds until lightly golden and cooked through.

Serve the pancake on the warmed plate. Top with the slices of reserved banana and extra toppings or your choice. It’s just to have something spreadable or dippy to eat them with – yoghurt, compote, mousse, cream, sauce etc.

Eat and enjoy – preferably on a tray in bed for a relaxing treat

Serves 1 – easily doubled.

*Note: Replace the milk with almond or coconut milk to make these pancakes dairy free and vegan too! Also, make sure your baking powder and buckwheat flour are gluten free, as some are not.