The pandemic is stretching my ability to cope with breakfast (as well as other things, but that's another story!). Being home means that people have time for breakfast. A bowl of cereal won't really cut it. But making and eating eggs every day gets boring. Ditto pancakes on the stove. Plus, regular pancakes are loaded with carbohydrates and, liberally drizzled with syrup, send people into a full-belly snooze for the morning work time. Not a good idea. So, instead of regular pancakes, I came up with an air fryer version that incorporates good carbohydrates--fruit and oatmeal--and protein--eggs and cottage cheese. The pancakes are a variation of an air fryer breakfast bake I make periodically and are filling, sweet, nutritious, and incredibly delicious. I make the pancakes in mini pizza pans lined with aluminum foil (because the pans have perforations in them and for easier removal and clean up) and cook the pancakes one-at-a-time. The pancakes cook in minutes, and are far from run-of-the mill breakfast fare. As a bonus you can feel free to use up those bananas that have been on the counter a bit too long! They'll make the pancakes taste even sweeter and better! Yum!
Air Fryer Banana Pancakes -- Makes 4/Serves 4
1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese
2 large eggs
1 cup of quick oats
1 cup of mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 bananas sliced or cut up into bits
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
Line four small mini-pizza pans (6-7-inches round) with aluminum foil (if the pans have holes in the bottom) and/or spritz the pans with non-stick cooking spray. If you don't have pizza pans, you can use small cake pans and spritz them with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, beat together well the cottage cheese, eggs, oats, mashed bananas, and cinnamon. Divide the mixture among the four pans. Divide the sliced/cut up bananas among the four pans, placing the bananas on top of the batter. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the bananas. Spritz the tops of the unbaked pancakes with a little cooking spray (this keeps the air fryer from blowing off the sugar). Cook the pancakes, one-at-a-time in the air fryer basket at 360 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until cooked through and a deep golden brown on top. The sugar/bananas will be a bit caramelized. Oh, yumm! Repeat the cooking process with the remaining batter.
