Chocolate Chip-Walnut-Banana Pancakes

Oh yeah, I went there!

It was a crazy morning. I woke up at four a.m. for no apparent reason and could not get back to sleep. I laid in bed until 5:15-ish before I finally decided that:

1. I obviously was not going to fall back to sleep

2. I had a very important stats final in about three hours

3. I needed some pancakes if I was going to get through it!

Also, I needed to study... more...  Since I had one very ripe banana and a couple tablespoons of vegan chocolate chips leftover from cookie-baking (as well as over two pounds of some walnuts), I knew they needed to be tossed together in one glorious pancake. Along with these pancakes and a couple cups of coffee with almond milk, I was finally ready to take on my final.

Little known fact: Pancakes make you better at math.

Chocolate Chip-Walnut-Banana Pancakes:
1 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 very ripe banana, mashed well
1 Tb. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tb. mini vegan chocolate chips
1/6 c. chopped walnuts (about 2 1/2 Tb.)

1. In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix with a whisk and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the almond milk, mashed banana (mash the nanner before adding the milk), brown sugar, and vanilla.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts and stir to mix.
4. In a preheated skillet or griddle sprayed with some nonstick. Cook a couple pancakes at a time. When the pancake is dry around the edges and has bubbles in the middle, flip it once and cook another minute or two until done. Repeat with remaining batter and occasionally respray the skillet with some nonstick. It's best to cook the pancakes over medium heat to prevent them from cooking too fast.

Serve with your choice of stuffs: butter and syrup, nut butter, fresh fruit, powdered sugar, plain, etc. This recipe makes 9-ish pancakes. Per pancake, you get 121 calories, 3.3 g. fat, 3 g. protein, and 8.7% of your calcium RDA.

How did my final go, you ask? Well, about 45 minutes into the final there was a bomb threat. We didn't get an all-clear until the final was almost over (it was a two hour final), so our professor told us we could walk with the grade we had. Luckily for me, this turned out to be a pretty sweet deal. Also, there were no bombs. And I got to go home and sleep. All in all, it was just kind of a weird day!

And don't forget my first Friday Giveaway, only a couple more days to go!