Simple Pleasures

I made pancakes again over the weekend. I can’t help myself. Pancakes are just pure love. How can you not love digging into a big, fluffy pile drizzled with maple syrup on a lazy Sunday morning? I dare you to pass on a plate. Pancakes also make great comfort food when you’re recovering from a crazy (but fun) weekend.

I had some leftover pumpkin puree from the cupcakes, enough to put them into my pancake recipe and make delicious Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes. I used buttermilk pancakes as the base, and simply added the pumpkin puree and the spices. Pancakes were absolutely heavenly; so light and fluffy, with a hint of pumpkin and spices that’ll warm anyone’s heart on a cool autumn morning. Don’t forget the maple syrup!



Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes
Makes 10 to 12 pancakes

1 cup buttermilk
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp light brown sugar
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ cup canned pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and ginger.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, vegetable and buttermilk. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk until incorporated. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Gently stir together until just incorporated and still lumpy. Don’t overmix. Allowing the batter to be lumpy makes for fluffier pancakes. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat some vegetable oil a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add about a ¼ of batter to the pan; cook until golden brown and tiny air bubbles form evenly on top, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a place and keep warm in the oven (heated at 200°F) while you cook the remaining pancakes.
Serve pancakes with maple syrup.