Having seen a recipe for Oaty Banana Drop Scones on River Cottage I decided to make a slight variant of them. Drop Scones are similar, if not exactly the same as Scotch Pancakes. They also are very similar to those American pancakes so often enjoyed with maple syrup. These, though, are different in that they have some very ripe banana in the batter and include oats too.
The addition of those two ingredients makes for a wonderful texture and a great taste to these drop scones, and they don’t take long to make, so can easily be made in time for breakfast if required.
Although I used my immersion blender and a a bowl attachment to mix the wet ingredients into a smooth liquid it can easily be done by hand. The banana can also be left a little chunky rather than entirely smooth, if desired.
They don’t need baking in the oven as they are cooked in a heavy-bottomed frying pan/skillet or on a griddle.
Mine took about 6 minutes to cook, firstly about two minutes on one side, until the edges had firmed up. Then turned they were cooked another two minutes. Then I turned twice more for about a minute each time just to let them colour more and cook through.
I guess they can be made whatever size you wish but I kept mine fairly small, just two to three table spoons of batter for each one.
I must say I was very pleased with how they turned out. The banana flavour came through well and I could taste the oat too. The texture was good too, with the oats giving a firmer structure as well.
These are very easy to make and are perfect as a breakfast, with butter, jam or syrup. They can also be served with fruit and cream, or suchlike, as a dessert.
For another dessert with bananas you could try Banoffee Pie
Ingredients:
- 100g(2/3 cup, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
- 80g(1 cup) oats (blitzed a little if they are very large flakes)
- 4g(1 tsp) baking powder
- 1 medium egg(large in USA)
- 150ml(1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) milk
- 42g(2 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
- 175g(6 oz), ripe bananas, out of the skin(one large or two small bananas)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- oil for greasing the griddle/pan
Method:
- Place the flour, sugar, salt and oats into a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Whisk the egg, milk, banana and melted butter ( used my immersion blender) in another bowl until the mixture is as smooth as you prefer. You can leave some lumps of banana if you wish.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together until everything is combined into a batter that has the dropping consistency of thick or double cream.
- Lightly grease the griddle( or pan).
- Heat the griddle to about 170C/340F.
- Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle to form the drop scones(2-3 tbsp should be enough).
- Allow to cook for a couple of minutes, until the edges firm up and a few bubbles appear on the surface.
- Flip the drop scones over and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Flip again, twice more, cooking for about a minute each time, for a total of about 6 minutes, until they have cooked through and coloured well on the outside. (Increase the heat a little too if desired).
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool, and continue until all the batter is used.