Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes/Blizzards


So, currently here in Milwaukee we've got a blizzard going on - and not the good kind of blizzard. In the actual city, only two inches of snow have fallen (there's up to a foot out in the country!), but the wind has gusts of over 45 mph! Needless to say, this canceled my usual weekend-morning visit to Alterra, but is giving me a nice, calm Sunday morning at home (actually, I doubt I'll set foot outside at all the whole day). 


After hearing the weather report for the day, I knew we wouldn't be heading to Alterra for coffee and baked oatmeal, so I announced to Eric I'd make pumpkin pancakes from scratch. I'd never made pancakes from scratch, or pumpkin pancakes, but they sounded amazing and this was the perfect morning to try my hand at them! 


I consulted the "bible" for a recipe, and altered to make it just a little healthier. Though the batter was pretty thick (I kept adding Almond Breeze to thin it up), they turned out great! Soft, chewy and slightly sweet, I think I'll be making these pancakes again. You should try them too!

[Oops! I gobbled my pancakes down so quickly I didn't have time for a photo of them. But here is the aftermath. Enjoy.]

Pumpkin Pancakes (adapted from MarthaStewart.com)

Ingredients:

2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

2 cups Almond Breeze (or milk! Almond Breeze was all I had on hand)

6 tablespoons pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 chia egg (1 Tbs chia seeds, 3 Tbs water - let sit 10 minutes - voila! Vegan egg! Or you could use one actual egg)

Whisk together flours, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

In a separate bowl, stir together Almond Breeze, pumpkin puree, butter and chia egg. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture.

Pour 1/3 cup batter for each pancake in a skillet heated on medium. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, and serve with butter and syrup if you desire!

Dang, I just realized if I'd used Earth Balance instead of butter, this would have been a vegan recipe! So swap out the butter if you want to be fully animal-friendly :)

I hadn't had pancakes in ages, and these were so good! Although a certain feline wasn't too happy about us chowing down on his namesake this morning.

[Mr. Pancakes is not pleased about our breakfast choice.]

Because I'm stuck indoors today, I've got to keep myself busy somehow! So I plan on wrapping some gifts, doing some laundry, maybe baking some Christmas treats and perhaps taking in a Christmas special or two?

And speaking of wrapping gifts, Eric totally has me beat this year - he's almost completely done wrapping! He's even wrapped my gifts, which will be taunting me by the tree for the next week and a half...

[No, these aren't all mine... even though I've been REALLY good this year...]

OK... the list isn't going to check itself off! Time to get to work! If you're stuck inside during the blizzard, I hope you've got things to keep you busy. If you think about it, there's so much to get done during the holidays, sometimes we need these days to tackle everything at once! Stay warm! :)