Weekend Breakfast Treat!

I mastered the art of pumpkin pancakes a few weeks ago, and have been dying to tell you about the recipe I officially adore. But I wanted to be strategic, and hopefully inspire you a little! That's why I couldn't do this post any old day... if you heard about pumpkin pancakes on Tuesday, you might forget all about them by the time the weekend rolled around. And this is a recipe you don't want to forget. You want to grab a post it, jot down ingredients you might need, and head to the store on your way home tonight. If your weekend is going to be as rainy and mellow as mine, then it is perfect timing to cook some of these babies for breakfast.


While you're at it, check out the awesome blog I got the recipe from. It's Pinch My Salt, and I don't know how I hadn't run across it before. It's great! I am kind of in awe of Nicole's pictures... maybe some day I'll try to learn more about taking great pictures and editing them to look like hers. For now, I'll just admire other people's pictures and work on my cooking skills. One thing at a time, right? My friend Katie gave me the excellent suggestion to try this recipe when I had leftover pumpkin, and now in the last month I've made pumpkin pancakes on multiple occasions.


Before I share the recipe, let me give you a pancake tip if you're like me and only cooking for one or two people. Pancake batter can make a lot, right? And while you could scale down the recipe, that is a lot of dishes and effort for only 4 or 5 pancakes. I like to put in the effort once, and eat the results on multiple occasions! But pancakes are only good in the fridge for a couple more days before you have to throw them out. So... why not freeze them? The trick is to freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then put them into a ziplock freezer bag once they're already frozen. They go from frozen to delish about about 45 seconds in the microwave, and can be a great way to get yourself moving on a weekday morning that's really dragging. And while I'm on the subject of freezing stuff, it turns out canned pumpkin also freezes well. Put 1 cup portions into baggies to freeze, then grab a bag and thaw in the sink when you're craving these pancakes!

And in case you guys think my fridge is out of control, here's proof that I'm not crazy :

See, look at all that space! I have some frozen meat, ice cream, pasta sauce... all normal stuff, and not too much of it! And Matt, I'm glad to hear you're freezing bananas at your house, too :)

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
From Pinch My Salt

1 C. whole wheat flour

1/2 C. cake flour

1 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1 C. buttermilk

1 C. canned pumpkin puree

2 eggs

2 T. oil

1 t. vanilla

2 T. dark brown sugar

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients (whole wheat flour through nutmeg). In a separate bowl, whisk together the last six ingredients (buttermilk through brown sugar).

2. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend together with a wooden spoon until just combined. Lumps are ok, just make sure all the flour on the bottom of the bowl is mixed in. If batter seems too thick to pour, you can gently stir in a little more buttermilk.

3. Drop pancakes by ladleful onto a medium-hot griddle. Pancakes are ready to turn when the edges start to look a little dry and you can see small bubbles forming on the surface.

If you really want to enjoy these pancakes, splurge on real maple syrup. It is so worth it on these pancakes!