Weekend mornings are made for pancakes!  Growing up, Saturday mornings were the one day of the week that we might have pancakes or cream dried beef on toast.  These were special breakfasts that took longer than mom could devote to breakfast during the week.  Since I don’t do the meats (especially on Monday posts!) we are clearly talking pancakes today.

Now I know right where I can find Mom’s pancake recipe.  It is still paper-clipped in her red-checked Betty Crocker cookbook right now, without a doubt.  She adapted Betty’s stand-by and jotted down the measurements for when you are tripling the batch, since that’s some tricky math at 7:30am pre-coffee.

My pancake recipes tend to reside in my laptop or in my head.  And unlike mom’s consistent pancake recipe, I don’t think I’ve ever made the exact same recipe twice.  There’s always a new combination to try, a new spice to mix in, a new type of fruit or flower or sweetener to substitute for the standard.  Right now all those new things are whatever is left in the cupboards/freezer/shelves!

This meant pumpkin and spiced pancakes this weekend.  Here’s the all-new, marianhd original recipe!  My goal was to use things in my cupboards and make just enough pancakes for my husband and I to enjoy alongside some scrambled eggs

Hearty Pumpkin Spiced Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup oat flour (oatmeal put in the blender for a minute or so)
• 1/3 cup wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (mine was from a roasted pumpkin, canned will work, too)
• 2 tbsp cinnamon chips (if you can’t find these–or just don’t want to find these–just double up on the ground cinnamon)

Preparation

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Combine all wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined.

4. Spray your skillet with a PAM-type stray (or melt a little butter in it if you’re feeling indulgent) and set to medium heat.

5. Spoon/scoop about 1/4-1/3 cup of batter into the pan and smooth out with the back of a spoon if necessary.  Cook until bubbles start to appear, then flip and cook the other side until golden.

6. Enjoy with butter and/or maple syrup.

Unfortunately, the pancakes were so delicious that we ate them before I could remember to take a picture.  So close your eyes and imagine a short stack of golden pancakes, drizzled with maple syrup, and with the aroma of cinnamon, pumpkin, and a touch of nutmeg wafting up with the wispy steam.  Imagine cutting through the stack of thick, hearty pancakes to create the perfect bite.  You drag the first piece through a rivulet of stray maple syrup right before you take your first bite.

There.  That was even better than a photo.  For the full visual experience, you’ll have to make them yourself.  If you’re feeding more than one person’s full breakfast meal, you’ll want to double or triple the recipe.