Simple, Delicious Pumpkin Pancakes

For many people, pumpkin is something that is only used around Thanksgiving and Christmas to make traditional pumpkin pies for a holiday meal.  For many others, it's simply a colourful fall decoration, used to adorn porches and front stairs, or carved into jack o'lanterns for Halloween.  Pumpkin is something that can be used in both savory and sweet dishes either to enhance flavor, or act as the dominant flavor.

I hadn't done much cooking with pumpkin until recently. I love pumpkin pie but have honestly never even made one from scratch. My first venture into cooking with pumpkin was when I decided to make pumpkin bread from a recipe in the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. I'd had a can of pumpkin purée in my pantry for ages and decided this would be the perfect way to use some of it. Since the recipe only called for 3/4 of a cup, I had nearly the whole can left and since the bread was so delicious, I was anxious to see what else I could make with the pumpkin.

That's when I got the idea for pumpkin pancakes. I had heard of them and seen them on TV, but when I looked up a recipe online, they either had an ingredient that I didn't have on hand, or they called for the dry pancake mix and I wanted to make them from scratch. I dug out my trusty old pancake recipe that I've had for years, tweaked several times and finally perfected, and decided to tweak it once again to add in the pumpkin. The results were a beautiful and delicious golden orange pumpkin pancake that has become a new favorite in my house, and hopefully will in your house too!

You'll need
2 large mixing bowls
A non-stick frying pan
Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tbsp melted margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

In one bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add in the 2 eggs; beat lightly. In the other bowl, mix together the pumpkin purée, sugar, melted margarine, milk and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the first bowl and mix until you have a smooth consistency with no lumps. You can use an electric mixer, whisk or fork, whatever works easiest for you.

Spray your frying pan with non-stick cooking spray or add a bit of margarine or butter and turn the heat on medium. When the margarine is melted in the pan, you can use a ladle, measuring cup with a pouring spot, or a 1/3 measuring cup to pour the batter into the pan. I use a 1/3 measuring cup and can get three medium sized pancakes in my pan at a time.

As all stoves are different, it's hard to give an exact time for cooking, but when the top of the pancake starts to form little bubbles, that's usually an indication that it's time to flip them. Cook them on the other side for another couple of minutes, and voila, you have amazing, tasty pumpkin pancakes ready to be eaten!

A tip if you're doing a large batch of pancakes: as you're done with the pancakes in the frying pan, put them on a plate and if your microwave has a 'keep warm' setting, pop them in there while the others cook. You could also put them in an oven-save dish and set them in the oven on the lowest setting just to keep them warm.

This recipe makes 12 medium-sized pancakes.

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