When I were a lass, my home economics teacher at school dubbed me the "Queen of Pancakes". Oh the joy! I remember how I blushed when she declared it to my fellow peers after a particularly successful flip. I enjoyed a short period as her cookery class pet, but I eventually fell from grace and she was nice to me no more.
I have no idea what caused her change of mind about me - a slap-dash upside down pudding maybe? Rock buns that were rockier than the Rockies? I don't know, but I put it down to her being something of psychopathic little Hitler in the end, though I never let myself lose that accolade of being a pancake queen.
And here I am, very many years later, with my very own vegan pancake recipe. And really, honestly, I've never been so impressed with myself at how easily - and tastily - pancakes can be created without any need whatsoever for eggs. Of course, you still need something to bind, and in this case, I used mashed banana.
I tend to eat sweet pancakes for Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day anyway - with lemon juice and sugar, as is customary. And though Pancake Day this year is next week on 12th February (believe me though, I only partake in it for the love of pancakes and because of tradition, I do not have any desire to 'give up' anything for lent, nor do I have any religious leanings), I have already made two batches of my recipe beacause I just HAD to keep testing!
Also, the pictures didn't turn out so great from my first go, because I was taking them at night and didn't have natural light. It really does make such a difference, as you can see from this photo below, which although Seymour adds a touch of gorgeousness (it seems he quite likes pancakes!), the colour just doesn't look all that, even with some messing around in my image-editing programme.
Anyhow - from my experience here, I have decided that I am still going to retain my title of 'Queen of Pancakes'. Oh yes, just watch me. I can flip a pancake very well indeed, while I watch the pancakes of others fall to an untidy splat on the kitchen floor. And this recipe is just a pancake winner! Really. I'm not sure there's much difference between these and the egg/dairy versions, except mine comes without exploitation and tastes better.
If you're new to flipping pancakes, the trick is to edge the pancake over the pan before you attempt the flip (of course, your pan needs to be well-oiled as well, so the pancake isn't sticking, and ensure the underside has been completely freed).
And what to serve them with? Well in the UK we generally like to have them plain and simple, with lemon juice and sugar. But I also like bananas, cinnamon and maple syrup, or peanut butter and jam! Also, they would be delicious with coconut cream and berries.
So vegan or not - go ahead and try these pancakes out. I promise you won't be disappointed! (And another bonus of making them vegan is they are cholesterol-free and budget-friendly!).
Oh - and you don't have to eat them JUST on Shrove Tuesday of course - they make a perfect breakfast food too.
Shrove Tuesday Sweet Pancakes
Makes about 6-7 large pancakes
1½ cups / 225g plain flour
2½ cups / 750ml non-dairy milk (I use unsweetened soya)
¼ cup mashed banana (about 1 small banana)
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (add another ¼ tsp for a stronger cinnamon flavour)
Vegetable oil for frying
1. Sift the flour, salt and cinnamon into a mixing bowl, stir in the caster sugar, then make a well in the centre of the flour.
2. Into the well, add the mashed banana and about one third of the non-dairy milk. Use a hand whisk to stir the milk and banana into the flour, gradually adding more milk and stirring in (stirring the milk in gradually avoids lumps forming).
3. Continue stirring in the milk until the batter is the thickness you desire, adding more milk if needed – the batter needs to be fairly thin. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Heat oil a non-stick, heavy-bottomed, flat frying pan until it has just started to smoke. Pour out the excess oil from the pan into a heat-proof container (a teacup, for example), so there is just a thin layer of oil coating the pan, then tilt the frying pan and ladle in some batter. Ladle enough to almost fill the bottom of the pan, while tilting it around so it spreads.
5. Cook the pancake on one side, until the visible side starts to change colour and blister, and the underside is lightly browned. Then use a rounded knife or spatula around the sides of the pancake to unstick it from the pan, and a large spatula to unstick the underside. You can flip it if you're feeling brave, or use the spatula to turn.
6. Cook until the turned side is browned. Serve hot with lemon and sugar, bananas and maple syrup, or whatever you like!
I'm Andrea, and am obsessed with creating fabulous food. After I managed to ditch dieting, the reason Chocolate and Beyond was born, it seemed natural to evolve my site into a foodie blog. More so since I also ditched animal produce to be vegan. Now, I love showing how inventive cruelty-free cooking can be. And sometimes I like to rant, too. I wouldn't be myself otherwise :) x 
An excellent recipe; delicious with just sugar and lemon and even better with other fillings. As a non-vegan I was impressed with how well the batter bound together without egg and at the richness of taste achieved without using any dairy. I'll be making this again no doubt, having batter in the fridge is great for a quick breakfast, thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Daniel Hammond | February 07, 2013 at 03:37 PM
Hi! We've recently launched the site www.Recipesup.com, on our website you can promote your blog Through facebook,twitter.com and pinterest. I invite you to go and take a look. Your blog will be in the top rank of Recipesup blogs. Hopefully your food blog will be up there in the top!
Lovely blog!
www.recipesup.com
www.cazarecetas.com
Kinds Regards
Posted by: Ana | February 07, 2013 at 05:26 PM
Daniel thanks so much for your comment and for letting me know that you enjoyed the recipe! It is especially heart-warming to know that as a non-vegan, this impressed you. I hope it will encourage you to explore vegan cooking more (I know you do a lot, anyhow!) :)
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | February 07, 2013 at 08:49 PM
Andrea, my eldest tried this recipe last night and absolutely loved, said they were the nicest pancakes she had ever made, loved the banana and cinnamon combo an didnt need to put anything on them, delighted with them and she will make them again.xx
Posted by: Susan J Caldwell | February 08, 2013 at 09:27 AM
Susan thanks for your comment! I'm so glad your daughter enjoyed the pancakes :) xx
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | February 12, 2013 at 08:45 AM
Love this recipe! The batter was very simple to make and made lovely pancakes. Even to a seasoned banana-denier like myself, they tasted beautiful.
One question - could I make "American-style" small pancakes just by reducing the amount of non-dairy milk in the recipe, or would that not work? It's just they're easier to flip and my son prefers them to crepes!
xox
Posted by: Becky | February 12, 2013 at 06:08 PM
Hi Becky - thank you so much for taking the time to comment and let me know how your pancakes turned out! For 'American-style', you would probably need some baking powder in there as well, to fluff out a bit. And obviously make the batter much thicker too, yes.
My favourite American-pancakes recipe is this one (from PPK): http://www.theppk.com/2011/12/puffy-pillow-pancakes/
Posted by: Andrea - Chocolate and Beyond | February 13, 2013 at 03:58 PM
I had a pancake party on Tuesday, and used this recipe for the batter. They turned out absolutely amazing! I was worried because I didn't try out the recipe beforehand but everyone loved them and a few people didn't realise they were vegan until afterwards.
The best pancakes I've ever tasted, thank you!
Posted by: Catherine | March 06, 2014 at 01:42 PM