Fluffy buttermilk pancakes filled with banana flavor and studded with macadamia nuts, smothered in coconut syrup. Just like you had at that restaurant in Hawaii! These are so easy to make at home. Comes with free palm trees and a beach too.
Chop the macadamia nuts. I used my food processor and pulsed it until there were some fine chunks and some larger ones.
Add the macadamias to a large bowl, along with the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together.
Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside.
Whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Whisk in the butter.
In the bowl that you melted the butter, mash a banana with a fork. It doesn't need to be perfect, some chunks are ok.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and add the mashed banana. Stir until JUST barely combined. Embrace the chunk.
Heat a large frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Grease well with butter or nonstick spray.
Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to form pancakes. Cook for a few minutes, until the top has formed bubbles and they have started to pop.
At this point, you can add chopped pineapple to the raw side of the pancake. Make sure you spread it out otherwise the pancake won't cook in the middle.
Flip the pancakes and continue to cook until light golden brown.
Turn your oven to the warm setting (170 degrees F) and put a cooling rack inside. Keep the pancakes on the rack until ready to serve.
Serve with fresh bananas* or fresh pineapple and Coconut Syrup
Notes
*If you want you can roast the bananas. Slice them, put them on a greased baking sheet, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar, then broil for a couple minutes. Or torch them, if you have one. Or you could pan fry them in butter and sugar like I did in this post. Source: inspired by my mother-in-law Kris, adapted from Epicurious