Clinton St. Baking Co. Pancakes with Crunchy Bananas

If you'd like an indulgent breakfast worth celebrating, look no further than these pancakes with crunchy bananas and cinnamon chili chocolate sauce. The fluffiest pancakes ever are topped with a spiced chocolate sauce and fried cinnamon sugar dusted bananas. These pancakes truly are the crown jewel of the sweet breakfast game and are decadent enough for dessert.

(This recipe was originally published in February 2011, but was updated with new photos and content in 2021).

This pancake recipe hails from the Clinton Street Baking Company in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This New York City institution is known particularly for its outstanding pancakes and their indulgent toppings. They even celebrate Pancake Month every February with a daily specialty stack.

Their pancakes are some of the fluffiest and most delicious pancakes you'll ever have. Beaten egg whites are folded into the pancake batter, which yield super light and airy flapjacks. You can absolutely stick to the pancake recipe on its own. Serve it with maple syrup or your other favorite toppings. But if you really want to make next level pancakes, keep reading...

Clinton Street Baking Company's pancakes with crunchy bananas and cinnamon chili chocolate sauce are exceptional. Cinnamon and cayenne pepper add a hint of spice to the rich chocolate sauce, while crisp, molten banana pieces are doused in cinnamon sugar, a final glistening touch. They're perfect for special occasions or anytime you want to indulge.

Ingredient notes

• Eggs: Don't forget that you'll need to separate your eggs for this recipe. The yolks mix directly into the pancake batter, and the whites are beaten separately and folded in, resulting in the absolute fluffiest pancakes with bananas!
• Bittersweet Chocolate: I recommend anywhere between 60% to 75% cacao for the bittersweet chocolate. The higher the content, the less sweet the chocolate (and the resulting cinnamon chili chocolate sauce) will be.
• Light Corn Syrup: The small amount of light corn syrup in this recipe helps yield a glossy chocolate sauce with a great pouring consistency that will not solidify as quickly as a standard ganache would.
• Seltzer Water or Club Soda: Use either seltzer or club soda for this recipe. This will provide a bit of effervescence and lightness to the batter for the bananas. Don't use mineral water as it's not a suitable substitution.
• Bananas: This is not the time to use your over-ripe, nearly rotten bananas. Save those for making brown sugar banana date bread. Instead use perfectly ripe but not over-ripe bananas here. They need to be firm enough to batter and fry without your crunchy bananas falling apart.

How to make it

First, make the pancake batter. Whisk flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined.

Next, whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or whisk by hand, until medium peaks form. Gently mix half the egg whites into the batter with a rubber spatula. Gently fold in remaining whites.

The egg whites should not be fully incorporated into the batter and you should have a few remaining streaks of whites. At this point, the batter will last a few hours in the fridge without deflating too much.

Next, make the cinnamon chili chocolate sauce. Melt the chocolate, corn syrup, half-and-half, butter, vanilla, cayenne, and cinnamon together in a double boiler (a stainless steel pot set over a pot of simmering water will do just fine).

Mix until smooth, then keep warm until ready to serve.

Now, get to work on the crunchy bananas. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk in the seltzer water and set aside.

Fill a small Dutch oven or medium pot about 1 ½ to 2 inches deep with oil and heat to 350°F. Roll the banana halves in the batter to coat.

Gently dip 2 banana halves into the oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the banana turns golden brown and crisp.

Place the fried bananas on a paper towel-lined plate, and fry the remaining banana halves in the same way. Slice the bananas on the bias into ½-inch pieces.

Finally, sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar to coat.

Meanwhile, to cook the pancakes, heat a griddle (either an electric griddle, a stovetop griddle, or a large flat nonstick pan) until hot. Add a little unmelted butter to the hot griddle.

Add ¼ cup pancake batter to the griddle and let it set. When bubbles begin to form on top, lift the pancake to check the bottom. If the bottom is golden brown, flip it over. Cook until golden brown on other side.

Transfer cooked pancake to a plate and keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining batter. Garnish the pancakes with cinnamon chili chocolate sauce and crunchy bananas and serve immediately.

Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

Expert tips

I have reduced the measurements for the cinnamon chili chocolate sauce by a lot (from the original cookbook) to yield an amount of sauce that matches the amount of pancakes in the recipe. If you have any extra sauce, use it for topping ice cream! You can also double the sauce recipe with the intention of saving half for ice cream topping. Store leftover sauce in the refrigerator and reheat it before serving.

These pancakes are rather small, only 4-inches in diameter, however with the intense cinnamon chili chocolate sauce and the fried crunchy bananas on top, 4 of these smaller pancakes can comfortably serve 1 person.

The timing for this recipe can be a little tricky. It's easy to keep the sauce warm over the double boiler, but ideally you want the pancakes and the crunchy bananas to be hot/warm so if you have extra hands in the kitchen it would be great to have one person overseeing the pancakes while the other fries the bananas last minute.

Otherwise you are better off cooking the pancakes in batches, keeping them warm in a very low oven on a sheet pan or other oven-safe dish (turn on the oven, let it heat slightly then turn it off) and frying the bananas at the end so they are still crispy and hot. They'll still taste fine once they cool, but the crust won't be as crunchy.

Other recipes you may like

• Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
• Bouchon Bakery Style Banana Muffins
• Buttermilk Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
• Lemon Ricotta Waffles with Blueberry Citrus Syrup
• Sour Cream-Orange Waffles
• Gaufres de Lièges (Belgian Liège Waffles)
• Viennoise au Chocolat (Vienna Bread with Chocolate)

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