Healthy banana pancakes

1. In a bowl add the banana and lightly mash with a fork but not too much. There should be chunks of bananas still in the mixture.

2. Mix in one egg, baking powder, and cinnamon.

3. In a frying pan coated with cooking spray, cook pancakes over a medium heat. Each pancake should use about 1 tablespoon of batter. After browning (about 2-3 minutes) flip the pancakes over and cook for another two minutes.

4. Science Behind How and Why it is Improved

5. This recipe is similar to a banana pancake recipe that uses 2 eggs and 1 banana [Food]. Through experimentation I added other ingredients to increase the fluffiness and taste of the pancakes. This original recipe uses two eggs for one banana. Through experimentation, the two eggs cause the batter to become runny due to the excess amount of liquid. I also found that the two eggs take away the flavoring of the bananas in the pancakes. It tasted more like eggs and bananas than pancakes. I also wanted to add more flavor than just the banana and eggs so I decided to add cinnamon to the mixture since cinnamon tends to go well with other breakfast items. The first batch that I made with cinnamon (about ¼ teaspoon) had too much cinnamon in it. The cinnamon taste was overpowering the pancakes. From this I decided to reduce the amount by half, which gives a nice added flavor but is not overwhelming when eating the banana pancakes. The early creations of the banana pancakes came out flat and not fluffy like pancakes. I wanted to improve upon this because I enjoy the fluffiness of pancakes. Through research and past knowledge, I found that by adding baking powder can improve the fluffiness of pancakes. Again, through experimentation, I found that about 1/8 teaspoon of the baking powder was the ideal amount to add. Less than this amount caused the banana pancakes not to become that fluffy and more than that caused the pancakes to have a chalky taste. One main issue that I encountered while making these pancakes is that it stuck to the pan and therefore it was hard to flip. My first thought was to add cooking spray to the pan. This helped however, it was still not as easy to flip them as regular pancakes. The first couple of trials I mashed the bananas completely and then added in the other ingredients. However, I found that by not mashing the bananas completely and having chunks of bananas left in the mixture helped the pancakes stay together better. This is because the pancakes are not as liquidy as the mashed bananas and the chunks help hold the pancake together as it cooks. This also helped, but the banana pancakes were still not flipping correctly and ended up in mashes instead of the shape (circle) of a pancake. I found that making them smaller, using about 1 tablespoon of batter per pancake allowed them to be flipped the easiest.
These pancakes are healthier and gluten-free compared to old-fashioned pancakes. The nutritional information for both these banana pancakes and the old-fashioned pancakes can be seen in the table below. It compares one old-fashioned pancake with four banana pancakes due to the smaller size of the banana pancakes. The table shows that the banana pancakes are lower in calories, total carbohydrates, fat, and sodium. Healthy refers to a dietary practice that includes a selection of foods from a variety of food groups [FDA]. Particularly grain, fruit, and vegetable groups; choice of diet that is low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol; and moderate use of salt and sodium [FDA]. According to the FDA, in order to use the word healthy on a wrapper it needs to be low fat, low saturated fat, less than 480 mg of salt, less than disclosure level of cholesterol, and contain at least 10% of DV/RACC for vitamins A,C, calcium, iron, protein, or fiber except raw fruits and vegetables [FDA]. The lower sodium and calories allows people this recipe to be healthier according to the FDA definition. These banana pancakes also include a serving of fruit. Also, these pancakes are gluten free unlike the old-fashioned pancakes. The old-fashioned pancakes have flour, milk, butter, baking powder, salt, and an egg. Due to the flour used in this recipe it is not gluten free, and the added butter, sugar, milk, and flour add calories to the overall product.

6. Nutritional Information Old-fashioned pancakes Banana pancakes
Calories 158 89
Total Carbohydrates 21.7 14
Fat 5.9 3
Protein 4.5 4
Sodium 504 69
Sugar 3.5 7

7. Citations

8. AllRecipes. “Good Old Fashioned Pancakes” http://allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/ accessed 4/25/17
FDA “Guidance for Industry: A Food Labeling Guide” https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064916.htm accessed 4/25/17
Food. “2 Ingredients (Eggs and Banana) Pancakes. http://www.food.com/recipe/2-ingredients-eggs-banana-pancakes-501408#activity-feed accessed 4/25/17
MyFitnessPal. “Recipe Nutrition Calculator” http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator accessed 4/25/17