Vegan banana eggnog pancakes are a sweet and simple way to enjoy comforting holiday flavours. Served with an indulgent nutmeg cashew cream, this breakfast treat will make you so happy. The pancake recipe is from Isa Chandra’s Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook.
Let the holiday shuffle begin! I noticed that the non-dairy, non-denominational holiday nog display at the grocery store was looking particularly robust a couple weeks ago and said to myself: “It’s time!” (The giant tower of pannetone at the entrance was also a decent tip-off) I like making my own, but I also enjoy having some nog on hand for whizzing up into my morning superfood coffee situation, so sometimes store-bought hits me just right. I’m in the thick of a couple large projects right now, so from-scratch nog will have to wait anyway. Can’t wait to share all of this up-and-coming stuff with you all! In the meantime, there’s pancakes.
Even if you only eat plant-based/vegan sometimes, I’m sure that you know Isa Chandra Moskowitz. On the subject of vegan cooking, all of her books are authoritative, thorough, and so much fun. When I get stuck on a recipe, or something just doesn’t seem to be working, or I’m giving up entirely and just need something good for dinner, I turn to her books. My copy of Veganomicon is completely tattered, marked up, and stained. It was the first vegan cookbook that I bought and cooked from. Isa Does It is a way of life for me, and has never left my kitchen cookbook rotation. You might guess that I’ve been anticipating her latest book, The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook, for a long time.
First of all, the book is huge. There’s that immediate vibe of great value when you feel the weight of it. The photography is sharp, bright, super clean, and just so appetizing. I immediately turned to the harvest-y/festive chapters on Thanksgiving and winter holiday foods when I got it. There are great recipes for classics like stuffing, mashed potatoes, Christmas cookies, and even a vegan “roast.” But there’s so much good stuff in this book that you could just make because you feel like it. Some of the things I’m excited to try: roasted beet borscht with cashew sour cream, the all natural shamrock shakes, cauliflower tikka masala, chipotle mac and cheese, and the eggplant chimichurri kebabs for when grilling season comes around again.
I like these eggnog pancakes because they’re a very casual way to get festive. Like, you’ve just hauled up the holiday decorations from the basement and you’re not exactly in the mood to hang everything up/douse yourself in sparkles. So you just make pancakes and listen to Loretta Lynn instead (guess what we did last weekend!). There’s that subtle eggnog flavour that comes out even more with an extra sprinkle of nutmeg and maple syrup.
I made my eggnog pancakes a little more fancy with pomegranate and lightly thinned out cashew cream, too. Keeping cashew cream on hand at all times is one of my things now! These are the perfect weekend treat to usher in the season.
Banana Eggnog Pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes
- 2 very ripe medium bananas
- 1¼ cups plant-based eggnog
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, plus extra for cooking
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup light spelt flour (or all purpose/light whole wheat)
- 2¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg, plus extra for serving
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For Serving
- banana slices
- dried cranberries
- pomegranate arils
- maple syrup
- cashew cream
Notes
- I made a couple minor pantry substitutions with this recipe because pancakes tend to be flexible. I used light spelt instead of all purpose flour and melted coconut oil instead of canola.
- There are a ton of vegan eggnogs on the market, and if you’re using them in a recipe like this, you don’t have to be super picky. I chose one with the lowest amount of sugar, but you could also make your own with this recipe that I contributed to The Chalkboard a few years ago.
- Last thing: I served these with a lightly thinned-out cashew cream that was flecked with nutmeg and vanilla. It was decadent and awesome. The basic formula for cashew cream is 1 cup of soaked and drained raw cashews blended with 1/2 cup filtered water until totally smooth. From here, you can add maple syrup, spices etc. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mash the bananas until they are almost pureed. Add the eggnog, oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Set aside. Preheat the oven to a warming setting, and set a parchment-lined baking sheet on the top rack.
- In another large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the banana mixture. Use a fork to gently mix everything together until you have a lumpy batter. This should take about a minute. Don’t mix until smooth! Lumps are totally fine as long as all ingredients are well-incorporated and there aren’t any dry flour spots. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
- Preheat a large nonstick pan (Isa recommends cast iron) over medium-low heat. Using a brush, lightly coat the pan with coconut oil. Drop pancake batter into the pan by the 1/3 cup. Cook pancakes until puffy and holes are poking through, about 4 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until the other side is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer cooked pancakes to the baking sheet in the oven. Re-grease the pan and keep making pancakes until the batter runs out.
My favorite holiday recipe is my Mom’s Old Fashioned Stuffing recipe but I veganized it by replacing the giblets with sautéed mushrooms and the turkey broth with veggie broth!
Eeeek her cornbread is so good! And I love making a vegetable “shepherd’s pie” as a main dish, filled with lentils and root vegetables and all other good things. I need to try making your recipe with the celery mash soon! And of course, I love the holiday season because of cookies. lots and lots and lots of cookies.
my go-to is pumpkin bread with whatever squash I’ve forgotten about on the counter!
We do something different every year. This year we decided to do spring rolls and egg rolls! A winter fruit salad for dessert with (of course) cashew cream!
OK…maybe some Christmas cookies…
Hi Laura!
I love castagnaccio, a vegan gf chestnut cake from Tuscany. It’s made with chestnut flour, olive oil and raisins and so delicious. I’m making a big one to take as cross country skiing fuel for this weekend.
In our house, Isa and Terry’s delicious chickpea cutlets are always the most requested dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays — and basically every other day, too. They are easy enough for a weeknight but festive enough for a holiday meal. They are just the best!
SOUP. My favorite is a tomato-lentil soup with south indian spice mixes.
Usually as Christmas gets closer the more roasted vegetables (Brussels Sprouts especially) I make, usually to warm up the house, I also make Chocolate Pie.
The Holiday season has got to be my most favourite time of year to cook. Without a doubt. Family classics include Tourtiere and Bouche du Noel. I personally thrive on trying something new and different for our Christmas Eve Dessert Spread every year. So far favourites include: snowman cake pops, corquembouche, and a delightful gingerbread layer cake!
It will be my first vegan christmas in my omnivorous family, and I’m still looking for my own main dish. I want it mouth watering so everybody want to take a bite ! But I already plan to make Isa’s rosemary chocolate chips cookies. I love Isa Chandra and will be delightfull to win her new book !
These look so so good! And the photos are just gorgeous, Laura, don’t know how you do it. Also love little Cleo in the background there, what a cutie. Happy holidays to you guys xo
For Christmas, my sister and I always work on a gingerbread house together. I make the dough and she decorates. It takes pride of place in the centre of the dining table until December 24th… unless of course my brother begins nibbling at the roof before then at which point everybody devours it!
Christmas means making a big citrus and grain salad with enough to promise leftovers. Looking forward to finding some more holiday staple recipes with the help of this book!
I’m so excited about this book! Maybe because Isa’s rosemary chocolate chip cookies (from Isa Does It) is one of my favourite recipes. I make them every year around this time because the earthiness the rosemary just makes them seem so much more seasonal and festive. You should try them if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it. :)
I have and I love them, girl! Do you make them with a particular GF flour?
xo’s L
Breakfast casserole every Christmas morning!
I love making veggie pot pie with cranberry-pear sauce! Yum! I hope the rest of the cookbook is as delicious as these pancakes!
Ohh, these pancakes look AMAZING. :)
My favorite Christmas recipe is a rich chocolate and prune cake with a dash rum. My mom makes this cake for every Christmas for several years now. We always serve it hot with vanilla ice cream. This combination is a TOTAL disco for my taste buds.
This year I’ve decided to give it a try and veganize it! It’s gonna be a real challenge as the cake basically consists of tons of chocolate, lots of eggs and almost no flour!
But what’s the Christmas without a good cake challenge. ^^
These look divine!
My go to holiday recipe is always bourbon pecan sticky buns! The buns are soft and sweet and the addition of bourbon adds a nice little kick. I bring them to my holiday party with my friends every year and we all shamelessly eat way too many.
My favorite thing to make during the holiday season is a sweet potato version of my family’s tradition favorite; latkes! I serve them with apple sauce and a vegan version of sour cream made from silken tofu. Yum!
I look forward to making and eating my husband’s family stuffing, colcannon in place of regular mashed potatoes, and breakfast casseroles.
Christmas cookies are on the top of my list… especially good vegan shortbread! I bake all the time for my kids, but there is something special about sharing Christmas cookies…
Isa is fantastic and I’ve been eyeing her new book (it’s on my wish list ). Crossing my fingers!
so excited for this cookbook! my go-to is Brussel’s sprouts roasted with grapes.
This time of year I always make pumpkin cloud cookies – recipe cobbled together from a few sources, but mostly from The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur. They’re sooo good and the recipe is dead easy – I usually have some on hand in the freezer for emergency cookie situations. For Christmas dinner, this year I’ll be making my grandmother’s recipe for scalloped potatoes. At age 95, she veganized it for me so that I could enjoy them with family :).
The dog can’t keep his eyes off the stack of pancakes…looks like this might make its way into our nest this weekend!. Happy feasting!
Fruitcake! I know, I know! But mine is really good — I have made converts. Thanks for the giveaway. Fingers crossed.
Sweets are my favorites to make, and my coffee and chocolate trifle always has a permanent spot on the holiday table. The contrast in textures is so satisfying – crumbly vanilla cake layered with the smoothest mocha filling.
I also make a vegan chocolate bundt cake using silken tofu that has everyone in my family fooled – it’s now requested every year.
On the (more) savory side, I make mashed sweet potatoes with coconut milk, maple syrup, and brown sugar, which gets baked with a pecan and oatmeal streusel – divine!
My go-to holiday dish is sweet potato pie, the recipe has been handed down through my family. We bake the yams a day before, so the house is filled with warmth and anticipation for the completed meal to come the next day!
I love making mint chocolate cookies, and my favourite is the stuffing. But there’s always so many great new recipes coming out, that I love trying out stuff, blending traditional food with new food :)
Ginger spice cookies and apple cider.
Every year my dad would make a gingerbread cake from an old Amish cookbook he found at the library he worked at. He died a few years back so I make the cake every year to remember him by. <3
Always so enjoy your posts, thank you for all the inspiration! My favourite holiday recipe is Mom’s trifle, using raspberries and the sponge cake is made from scratch, it is a delight and something we look forward to every Christmas.
I look forward to making a special Christmas dessert for my family. Last year, I made a healthy version of a persimmon pudding, using persimmons I brought home from California.
Wow! I could eat these every day! I love the recipe and your photos are stunning as always. Happy December!
Oh, and my current favorite holiday recipe is my vegan, gluten-free Bourbon Butterscotch Custard Pie. Also, anything with sweet potatoes or brussel sprouts is a winner!
Everything I’ve seen from this book so far looks delicious!
My favorite thing to make at this time of year is cookies. It’s become a family tradition that my daughters and I spend a few afternoons in December preparing a variety of cookies for Christmas, mostly good old-fashioned German gingerbread and other Christmas-y style ones, but also a few more American types, an for the latter, Isa’s “Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar” has been our go-to book …
I love making Cranberry-Orange Sauce and Mushroom-Leek Sourdough Stuffing this time of year. They both taste great warm or cold!
My favourite Christmas bakes are cinnamon rolls (from scratch!) and Zimsterne (German hazelnut/almond cookies) luckily both can be made vegan I am also in love with roasted Brussels sprouts so I don’t save them for Christmas anymore, I make them quite a lot!
I am in desperate need of a vegan Christmas cookbook, would love to win a copy of Isa’s new book! Please include U.K. residents too on the giveaway!!
My favorite are holiday snowball cookies; not nutritious, but certainly tasty! The whole family’ll make them together and get powdered sugar E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.
All the desert recipes. Anything that has to do with pie or cookies I want it!
I think I have to go with latkes! The communal process of sitting around the table with my mom, brother, cousins, cat (heh) and peeling endless bags of potatoes has to be one of my fondest memories. It is simple, traditional food and it always sparks that “I am really home” kind of feeling. As for a specific type of latke if we stray from the usual, I LOVE a turmeric spiced latke with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds over top <3
since i’m a brit, my favourite Christmas recipe has to be mince pies. I’ve lived in the US for 6 years now and I am determined to show friends here how wonderful they are. planning to rustle up some homemade mincemeat soon! merry Christmas Laura!
One of our favorite holiday desserts is either my Grandmother’s apple cake recipe or my Great Aunt’s pumpkin pie cake… both are memorable! But I also have a particular fondness for holiday cookies—always so much fun! Can’t wait to see what Isa’s new cookbook has to offer! :)
Vegan gingerbread cookies! :)
We’re gearing up to make a few winter favorites this weekend, including pot pie and ricotta Christmas cookies! But we love discovering new favorites and The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook would be a great source of inspiration. :)
These pancakes sound delicious! I always look forward to making spelt gingerbread cookies and dark chocolate dipped candied orange slices for giving as holiday gifts during this time of year!
We make the Veg News Mac and cheese and The Minimalist Bakers cinnamon buns every Christmas. Perfect to make ahead and eat when we are hungry.
I love making vegan chocolate truffles. They are always a hit at holiday parties and store well in the fridge if they last that long!
My favorite holiday dish is Swedish meatballs and red wine poached pears with mascarpone cream for dessert.
I love making vegan chocolate truffles, they are always a hot at holiday parties and store well in the fridge if they last that long!
Fermented buckwheat bread is my favorite all time of year but around holiday season I indulge by including cranberries, candied ginger and orange zest. The bread is made of three ingredients: buckwheat, water and salt. Incredible but true! Plus, my mother and I always schedule a day in December to cook together (usually pies) with Christmas music, candles, mead and a lot of fun and we go by a warm pyjamas for the cold days ahead…
I love Isa; I have most of her cookbooks. Sometimes I just like to read through them if I need a chuckle; Isa is so quirky in her notes.
One of my favorite dishes is cranberry orange relish; I wait all year long for the fresh cranberries come around so I can make this; just fresh cranberries and a juicy orange with maple syrup or agave blended in the Vitamix. Simple and delicious!