Caramelized Banana & Belgian Pearl Sugar Pancakes

Heat griddle to 350 F.

To make your caramelized banana topping melt the butter (or coconut oil for vegan recipe) in a skillet over medium heat. Add your sliced bananas and sugar. Gently toss to coat them with the brown sugar. Cook until bananas are a golden brown color and have caramelized. Flip each piece gently during cooking so you don’t get a big mush.

For the pancakes:
In a small bowl whip your egg white until stiff peaks form (skip this step for vegan recipe).

In a large bowl sift flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.

In another bowl mix your egg yolk, oil, soda water, vanilla extract, almond extract, and mashed banana. For vegan recipe, see note below.

Add your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in your whipped egg white (skip this step for vegan recipe).

Add about 5 pieces of pearl sugar in one spot on the griddle. Let it heat up for about 15 seconds. Add 1/4 cup of batter on top of the pearl sugar. Add 5 or so more pieces of pearl sugar on top of batter so that when you flip you’ll have pearl sugar on both sides. Flip once bubbles start to form. Cook another minute. Plate and repeat cooking the rest of the batter. Serve with caramelized bananas and maple syrup on top.

Notes:
1. Pearl sugar can be found at specialty stores, I got mine from Sur La Table. If you don’t find pearl sugar, these pancakes will still turn out just as fantastic because of the caramelized bananas on top!
2. I actually didn’t have any milk on hand so I used soda water instead and I’m happy I did because it cut some calories and added a light and airy texture to the pancakes.
3. If you’d like to make these vegan, simply take out the egg and add 1/4 cup of applesauce and instead of using butter for the caramelized bananas, use coconut oil!