Substitution Sundays - Bananas

There are many different recipes that call for eggs, particularly when it comes to baked goods, but with the rising price of eggs it seems like a good idea to find ways to bake without eggs. There are certainly many recipes that do not call for this "liquid gold" (my mother, referencing the $2.50 she spent on a single dozen), but there are also ways to replace eggs with other binding ingredients. Bananas work really well as a substitute for things like muffins and sweet breads because they enhance the sweetness. Typically one mashed banana can be used in place of one whole egg.

When to replace an egg with a banana:

Use a banana instead of an egg if you don't mind your muffins, breads, or other things tasting like banana in addition to the other ingredients. If you want a very robust blueberry muffin, a banana might take away from the star of the show. However, if you want some nutty bran muffins, the banana might make your breakfast take on a whole new level of awesome. 

When to use the egg:

Use the egg if you are making pancakes. I tried substituting an extra banana for the egg in my banana pancakes and I ended up with a very thin stack of pancakes. I think this may be because the banana just wasn't up to the task of holding together the gluten network that needs to form for pancakes to get fluffy. Also use the egg if you aren't looking for banana undertones in your food. 

Note: I've never tried substituting bananas in cookies... If any of you have, let me know how that turned out! I may need to experiment with that. 

Finally! Fluffy Banana Nut Pancakes

Pancakes generally aren't my breakfast of choice. I'm more of a yogurt during the week and omelettes on the weekend sort of person. However, I love banana nut pancakes. They are less monotonous in flavor as compared to regular buttermilk pancakes and have the added crunch of the nuts to give each bite a different texture. Add some melty chocolate chips and they're perfect.

Even more perfect is the fact that I can use those old, almost black bananas I took from the dining hall instead of throwing them away. Many bananas have been put to good use in this way. Ask my best friend who has been enlisted as taste-tester for variations on these pancakes for the past two years. She will also likely hint that, though tasty, I have never been able to achieve fluffy banana pancakes. Banana-y? Yes. Nutty? Yes. Moist? Certainly. Fluffy? No can do... until now. Thanks to Sal at Allrecipes and the fact that I only had one banana, I finally tweaked a recipe enough to get just what I wanted: fluffy and moist banana nut pancakes with some chocolate chips.

Ingredients (makes ~6 medium pancakes):

• 1 c flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 banana
• 1/4 c each sour cream, vanilla yogurt, milk   (if not vanilla, add 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1 egg
• Dash almond extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• chocolate chips
• walnuts

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mash the banana. Add the sour cream, yogurt and milk to the banana. Stir in the egg, almond extract and cinnamon. Now combine the wet and dry ingredients, but be sure not to stir too much. This will cause the gluten network to break down (and then no fluffy pancakes). If the batter is too thick, dilute with water as desired. 

As you heat a pan, allow the mixture to rest. Melt a small piece of butter in the pan to keep the pancake from sticking. Stir the batter once more (no more than 5 strokes!) and then ladle into the preheated and oiled pan. Sprinkle on chocolate chips and walnuts to your heart's content.

 

 Flip when the pancakes edges have begun to solidify and bubbles appear throughout (middle photo above). Allow the other side to cook and then serve with extra banana, chocolate, and walnuts.

See Sal for the original recipe.