Of Strawberry Banana Pancakes

My dad's been bugging me about using the last overripe banana, but I didn't want to make banana bread. Besides, there was only one ripe banana. That's when it came to me. Why not make banana pancakes? I googled a recipe for the pancakes and I found one that had strawberries too. Perfect! I had some strawberries that needed eating too. Unfortunately that recipe called for buttermilk and my family never keeps buttermilk around. (The only thing I use it for are pancakes, and we don't make them that often) The solution: make my own recipe. Ok, I didn't make it up from scratch. I'm not that good. I used an old recipe my mom uses for pancakes and adapted it. Here's my adaptation of it:

Look how nice and golden brown it is!

1 cup flour
1 table spoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
As much strawberries as you want, chopped
maple syrup
butter

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix the banana, milk, egg and canola oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir until the they just combine. Don't over stir. At this point you can either fold the strawberries in or wait until the batter's on the pan and then sprinkle the strawberries onto the batter. I did the first method, but I have to say that the second would give you more control on how much strawberries you get per pancake as well as distribute them evenly. The final step is to simple fry the pancakes in a pan with some butter. (If you're like my parents who are watching their hearts, you can use canola oil instead) Remember to flip only when little bubble appear on the batter. All that's left now is to drizzle as much maple syrup as possible and eat!

Of Strawberry Shortcakes

I have always loved looking at strawberry shortcakes. There's something that's simply beautiful about smooth cream and bright red strawberries sandwiched between two slices of shortcake. The problem was that I never seem to have all the ingredients for it together. I'd have cream but no strawberries, strawberries and no flour, flour and no butter etc. And when I do have them, I always seem need them for something else.

Yesterday, my dad bought strawberries and to my surprise, he had some cream that he used for scalloped potatoes. Grabbing the chance, I baked strawberry shortcakes. 

I used the recipe for cream scones for the shortcakes. (See my post on scones) Then I placed some strawberries in a bowl (around a cup, maybe more if you love them) and added two tablespoons of sugar. Let them stand for at least an hour until the strawberries have soften and the sweet scarlet juices have oozed out. I placed another bowl and the beaters of my hand-held mixer in the freezer for a few minutes. After the bowl and the beaters had cooled, I placed some cream and a few drops of vanilla in the bowl. I beat the cream mixture until it formed soft peaks.

To assemble, I cut the scones into halves and place a dollop of cream on one side and spooned strawberries on top of the cream. I had more strawberries around each shortcake. And then...YUMMY!