Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Ah, bright and sunny southern California. Erik and I spent the weekend visiting the fam in San Diego, which was... well, it was gloomy and grey all weekend. SO, the apple-picking fell through, but there was plenty of beer and delicious food to make up for it. Most of it fried and cheesy, just how vacation food should be.

The good thing about dreary, drizzly weekends is that they give you a foolproof excuse for a lazy Sunday morning brunch (essential after a long Saturday night). The snuggly-sweater weather and my cousin's adorable kitchen were the perfect opportunity to try out a quintessential fall breakfast recipe I've been sitting on (not literally): pumpkin pancakes.

No adventures this time around, though, as canned pumpkin is much more readily available in San Diego than in Leesiana. This recipe is quick and easy, ideal for feeding a hungry (hungover) crowd.

Screw you, real pumpkins.

Nope, no adventures, just a hearty, perfectly sweet breakfast, best eaten with friends and family
(Mostly because pancakes don't keep well, so I didn't feel the urge to hide them for later. Other things I prefer to cook alone, so I can ration it out and stash some just for me! See last week's recipe for an example).

Made with whole-wheat flour, these guys are like a normal pancake's outgoing older brother: less light and fluffy, more substantial and bursting with flavor. They're not too heavy, though, and the autumn spices still let the pumpkin shine through. I'm a firm believer that you can tell how delicious something will be by how close everyone stays to the kitchen, and my crowd was parked right in front of the stove. Apparently no one was disappointed, because these things disappeared almost as quickly as they could be flipped from the pan to the plates.


These are sweet and flavorful enough on their own that I was mostly full from batter and stolen pieces before I finished cooking, but don't let the picture fool you into thinking we ate them with just a pat of butter. That's just not why God invented pancakes. A drizzle of maple syrup took them from a reasonably healthy breakfast to a ridiculously decadent brunch. And that, as far as I'm concerned, is Sunday morning heaven.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

adapted from allrecipes.com

A couple quick notes: Be sure to check that you have plain canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling. If you DO have pie filling, congrats on making your job even easier! Skip the spices and sugar.

Also, I know the vinegar seems weird. Trust me, it works out.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar

In a large mixing bowl, stir together wet ingredients (milk, pumpkin, egg, vanilla, oil, and vinegar). In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, spices, salt). Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir until just combined.

Heat a lightly buttered pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Ladle about 1/4 cup of pancake mixture onto pan. Brown on both sides (you won't see much of the bubbling that tells you a normal pancake is ready to flip, so just lift the edge with your spatula to check).

Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200 degree oven. Re-butter the pan after every two or three pancakes to prevent sticking.

Makes about 16 pancakes.




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