tis the season

 As stated in a previous post, summer seems to be a time when people willingly leave the comfort of their  homes in order to socialize with their neighbors, explore the freshness of walking trails a plenty. and of course make plans with friends without the fear of them being sabotaged by looming snow storms.   In order to capitalize on this universal willingness to socialize, I made plans to have one of my friends over for breakfast  the other day.   While some people shy away from committing to early morning plans, I think that  there is something energizing about waking up to a warm & sunny day knowing that I have proactively opened my life up to others.  The only problem with breakfast plans, is the small detail that I don't actually like breakfast.   No coffee, cereal, or yogurt for this girl.   I recognize breakfasts importance in the sense that I do actually need to "break the fast" at some point in time, but that doesn't mean that I'm on board with an early morning helping of cinnamon buns.   In order to not let my anti-breakfast preferences ruin a good opportunity to spend time with a friend, I had to come up with a game plan.   That plan had two parts: part 1: wake up early enough so that "breakfast" feels more like a mid-morning snack and less like actual breakfast.  Part 2: Coconut & banana flapjacks.   The recipe for these bad boys came all the way from Australia, believe it or not.

nutella lipstick

 Way back in 2006, when I wasn't too busy eating copious amounts of nutella or meeting kangaroos, I was spending my free time exploring the local cuisine around me.   I picked up a cookbook on one of my last days there as a gift for my boss at the time, but before handing it over I scored the recipe for the pancakes that have given me hope to someday becoming a breakfast lover after all. 

Coconut and banana flapjacks

2 eggs, separated

2 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup coarse thread coconut, lightly toasted

1 ripe banana, peeled and mashed

Beat egg yolks (reserve whites), milk, sugar and vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt, Add to egg mixture and beat until smooth.  Mix in the coconut and banana.  Leave to stand for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 hours in the fridge. 

Whisk egg whites to soft peaks and gently fold into mixture. 

Heat a frypan.  Spoon ladlefuls of batter into pan and cook over a medium heat for a couple of minutes.  Flip flapjacks to cook other side once the bubbles that form on the top start to pop.