Any snack, dessert or breakfast containing  either bananas, chocolate or nutella (or God help me all 3 ingredients!) is surely going to push me into my "I'm not sharing" mode.  Containing bananas, maple syrup and pecans ... this breakfast is one of those.  Thankfully for my waistline it is too big and too rich to eat all on my own.

After trying out this recipe I'm convinced there is a way to incorporate it into my campfire cooking repertoire.  Just got to work out the not-having-an-oven in-the-woods part.

This delicious recipe was sent to me from Margi with C.W. Worth Bed & Breakfast in Wilmington, NC.  I absolutely love Wilmington. I have great memories of this historic waterfront town while visiting there often while my cousin went to school at UNCW.   Their ghost walk happens to be one of my favorites.  That guide had me shaking in my boots from his stories and tall tales.  A little history mixed in with a little adrenaline is a great way to entertain.

Anyway.  Back to the Banana Upside Down Pancake.  To start, you'll need to whip up a basic pancake batter found here: Classic Pancake Batter.  The only difference is, add about a capful or two of vanilla to your batter.

Along with your classic pancake batter, you'll need a cup of maple syrup, 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans, vanilla extract, about 3 bananas sliced, and one whole stick of butter.  Yes, one whole stick.  Told ya this would be good!

Margi uses a cast iron skillet.  Since I don't have one, I used an oven safe pan.  Now that I think about it, I probably could have used a little less butter since the cast iron would have absorbed more.  But ... since when could you EVER use too much butter?

When the butter is melted, coat the pan with a pastry brush and add maple syrup.  Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next place coat the bottom of the pan evenly with banana slices.

Then cover your bananas with the chopped pecans.  I think I went a little nuts with the nuts.  That looks like a little more than a 1/2 cup in my hands.

Next pour your pancake batter on top of the nuts and bananas and cook for about 5 minutes on the stove top.  Then add to your oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool.  Then invert onto a large platter or plate and enjoy!

I smothered mine in more syrup, and then let it soak up the syrup for another 5 minutes.  As you can imagine that made it incredible moist and really ... really ... sweet.

My neighbors Jim & Ana came over for dinner and I served up some of this left over pancake with vanilla ice cream on the side.  Jim said it reminded him of a clafoutis, which is a French term for basically "fruit and batter."  Well, it may be.  If you want to get all fancy schancy.  But really it is just a simple and easy recipe to make.

C.W. Worth House Bed & Breakfast

Banana-Pecan Upside Down Pancake

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1 Cup Maple Syrup

2-3 bananas

1/2 Cup chopped toasted pecans

1 recipe of your favorite pancake mix

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) In heavy cast iron skillet, over low heat, melt 1 stick of butter and brush the sides of the skillet with the butter using a pastry brush.

3) Then add 1 cup of Maple syrup and remove from heat.

4) Slice 3 to 4 bananas evenly to completely cover the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle chopped toasted pecans over that.

5) Mix up pancake mix and add vanilla.

6) Pour batter slowly over the bananas/nuts and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.  Then bake in oven for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

7) Let cool, then invert on large platter or rimmed cookie sheet and serve.

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My mom recently gave me a terracotta apple baker ... so I was DELIGHTED when Susanne at Arthur Morgan House Inn sent me a recipe that gave me the opportunity to use it.

As I read on through the recipe I realized it was stove top.  Bummer!  So I decided to try it both ways ... sauteed and oven baked.

A sort of apple cook-off.  A contest.  A duel.  An absolute apple taste test.

Maybe it's because I was just having one of those frustrating weeks where stress started creeping in because I had a lot of projects started and nothing finished.  So slicing and chopping apples was just the outlet I needed for releasing some energy.

Get your apples on the counter.  LOTS and LOTS of apples.  Any variety that's available.  A mix of tart and sweet.  I used gala, granny smith and fuji.

The recipe was sort of wingin' it ... no exact measurements.  It's a fun way to cook ... a dash here and a dash there ... but difficult to duplicate and share!  Susanne is delightful through email, and I can tell she's been making these for so long that it just comes naturally to her.  So, I've "winged it" and made up some measurements form Susanne's list of ingredients that worked pretty well and added one of my own ... cinnamon.

You'll need ... about a teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (our local grocer didn't carry whole nutmeg, so I used some already grated.) Also, about a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger (another item our grocer was out of.  Sheesh! And I love freshly grated ginger.  I was too impatient to wait 2 days for their next shipment to come in, so I used some I had in my spice rack as a standby.)A teaspoon of cinnamon (after I re-read the recipe, realized this was my own addition!  Whoops!  I just couldn't imagine apples without cinnamon). Add to that some lemon juice, vanilla and a handful of raisins.

I used the same ingredients for baking as I did for the stove top  ... we'll see which produces a better apple!  (Hint: It takes a little more time, but so worth it.  Follow along ...)

I'm gonna show you the baked apples first, then the sauteed Arthur Morgan House Apples.

For the baked apples, I sliced and cored them but kept the peels in tact.  I did it such a way that the whole apple was still connected by the skin at the bottom.  A little tricky, as you have to sort of pull the apple back through the slicer.  Don't pull your finger through at the same time!  Unless ... of course ... you're making this recipe for Halloween and are going for the whole bloody-apples-with-finger-bits kind of dish.  But that's just plain gross.

I thought it would later make a nice presentation with a big scoop of ice cream in the middle.

I needed a little leverage on some of these firm apples, so I stepped up on a stool to throw my weight into this coring thing.  So THIS is how Julia Child felt hovering over her counter tops.  Aaah.  It's nice to be tall ... even just for a moment.

All the apples nestled nicely in their little baker.

Despite my unfruitful search for fresh ginger and whole nutmeg to grind ... I did find a lonely lemon.  I roll lemons on the cutting board a bit to get it a bit more juiced up.

Here's where I let the photos tell the story for a bit.  A little lemon, a dash of vanilla ...

GASP!  At this point I remembered my spices.  Too late.  The apples have already started soaking up the lemon and vanilla and boy-o-boy did it pour quick.   Ah well.  Rethink.  Revise.  Sprinkling it is.  I guess it is possible that the spices would have just stuck to the bowl?  (making myself feel better anyway!) Now I'll just be more precise with how to sprinkle them?  At least each apple got a little extra love and some undivided spice attention.

Well ain't that symmetrical?

Strategically place some raisins and you're ready to go!

We are now up to our elbows in apples and I realized I got a little carried away.  For the sauteed apples I should have PEELED them first, then chopped.   Now we've got to peel them all individually and I'm having flashbacks to stories of my grandfather talking about how peeling potatoes in the army was sort of a punishment.  I guess I'm paying my penance  for any wrong doings of the week.  I may have to pour some autumn sangria to get through this tedious task!

Assuming you're smarter than me, and actually peeled your apples before slicing, then this process should be pretty quick.  Next, add your naked apples to a warmed up saute pan (medium heat) with the same juice/vanilla/spice concoction listed above for the baked apples.

Pour on the raisins ...

Reduce heat to low/medium and stir every 5 to 10 minutes until the apples have absorbed all the spices and they turn into a gooey compote.

So, is it the sauteed apples ...

Or the baked apples that passed the taste test?

Both were excellent and immediately devoured with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  If you're into the dessert for breakfast sort-of-thing.  Susanne says guests love it served warm either solo, with cereal or yogurt.  I would even spoon it on toast.

The baked apples were a little less sweet.  The sauteed much more tender and syrupy.  Hands down, I'd say I preferred the stove top version. Turned out much tastier!  Well, at least I can use the apple baker as a serving dish!

Arthur Morgan House Apples

Peel and slice apples of several varieties into a large sauce pan with grated fresh ginger, fresh grating of nutmeg, a handful of raisins, a splash of lemon juice, and a dribble of good-quality vanilla (Susanne recommends Sunny Caribee's Vanilla Vanilla from the British Virgin Islands).  Cook over low-medium heat until apples are tender.  Taste as you go and you'll find the right balance of flavors.

**Susanne recommends mixing a little of this compote into the batter next time you make banana bread. Mmm.

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