Chocolate Banana Pancakes with Caramel Bits

My parents, brother, and sister in-law have been planning a trip to Belize for a few months.  They are going this month with a group.  I learned last month that someone in their group cancelled.  I'm always excited for a trip, so I bought their spot.

The details of the trip were already set when I joined.  It's a nice way to travel because I haven't done any preparation.  A consequence of this is that I'm not sure what we are doing.  The warm weather alone is one reason I'm excited.

Last year I heard about Shrove Tuesday for the first time.  It is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Many places celebrate the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday with Marti Gras, a day of excess and gorging.  

Other places spend Shrove Tuesday eating pancakes.  A little less ruckus than Marti Gras but tasty nonetheless.  This is a custom because pancakes use up rich foods like eggs, butter, sugar, and milk so people are not tempted with these ingredients over lent.  

I'm always looking for an excuse to eat pancakes so I'll eat some this Shrove Tuesday even though I don't take part in Lent.  The base banana pancake recipe for these pancakes came from allrecipes.com.  I added cocoa powder and caramel bit.

The ingredients are 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 ripe bananas, and 1/2 cup caramel bits.  I ended up adding an extra 1/8 of a cup of flour to make the batter a little thicker.

I added the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder to a bowl.  I whisked the dry ingredients together.

In another bowl, I added the mashed bananas, eggs, vegetable oil, and milk.  I whisked the wet ingredients together.

I poured the liquids into the flour mixture and stirred until combined.

I stirred in the caramel bits.

I greased a skillet and placed it on a stove at medium to high heat.  I scooped a fourth to a third of a cup of batter onto the hot skillet for each pancake.

When the edges looked firm, I flipped the pancakes and cooked the other sides for a few minutes.

I ate these with greek yogurt, but caramel or chocolate sauce would have been especially decadent.

My favorite part of these pancakes were the melted and gooey caramel bits.

The chocolate taste was subtle, but I didn't want it to overshadow the bananas.

 The pancakes were tender.  The edges was golden and brown.

It is a solid pancake recipe that I have used several times.  The caramel, banana, and chocolate combination was excellent.  These were satisfying and enjoyable pancakes.  They made a delicious breakfast.