Mother's Pumpkin Pancakes 
We all go a little pumpkin crazy in the fall. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin, bread, pumpkin soup. So why not something pumpkin for breakfast?These pie-spiced pancakes are another delicious way to get a fix. At Mother’s Bistro & Bar, we use candy corn to make pumpkin faces around Halloween… and not just on the kid’s cakes! It makes them that much more delicious (not!) and festive.
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Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 5 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin When buying canned pumpkin, check the label carefully. You want pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar and spices already mixed in. Feel free to substitute 2 cups fresh pumpkin purée if you have it.
- 6 eggs
- 3 cups whole milk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
- Vegetable oil or clarified butter for brushing griddle or pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 °F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, salt and brown sugar into a large mixing bowl. (If the brown sugar is lumpy, run the mixture through a sifter or fine-mesh sieve.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and eggs until combined. Whisk in the milk.
- Slowly pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients while gently stirring and mix just until combined. (Don’t over mix or you will activate the gluten in the flour and the pancakes will be chewy, like bread, instead of fluffy). The mixture will be a little lumpy (and that’s okay. If you have pockets of flour bigger than a dime, smash them against the side of the bowl to break them apart without having to stir the batter more). Pour in the melted butter and gently mix just until incorporated. (Sometimes melted butter solidifies when added to cold ingredients. Adding it now helps it disperse evenly in the batter and smooth out some of the lumps).
- Place a griddle or wide (preferably 14-inch)sauté pan over medium heat for several minutes. If using an electric griddle,set the heat to 350 °F
- Sprinkle griddle with a few drops of water; they should bounce around before evaporating. If they sizzle away quickly, the heat is too high. If they just sit there and slowly steam, the heat is too low. When griddle is properly heated, brush with clarified butter or oil, then wipe with a paper towel so it’s evenly greased. (Big spots of oil or butter will promote uneven browning and your pancakes will have dark and light spots.)
- Ladle ½ cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle,about an inch or two apart.
- Cook until bubbles begin to pop on the surface of the pancakes, the edges look a little dry, and the underside is golden, about 2 minutes. (Pumpkin pancakes tend to get a little darker faster because of the natural sugar in the pumpkin and the additional sugar in the recipe. It’s therefore better if your griddle is a little cooler than for other pancakes. That way the pancakes will have a chance to cook before they get too dark. If the underside of the pancakes are browning or burning before the surface of pancakes get a chance to form bubbles and dry out, the heat is too high. If it’s taking much longer than 2 or 3 minutes for the bubbles to form, the heat is too low). Flip them over and continue cooking until pancakes are cooked through, about 2 minutes more.
- Repeat with the remaining batter. Keep pancakes warm on a heat-safe platter or baking sheet in the oven.
- Serve with softened or whipped butter and maple syrup.