PERFECT PUMPKIN SPICE PANCAKES AND PEACH BUTTER

• November 27, 2014
• Mari Bickmore
• no comments

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am up early before anyone else has risen. My son and his wife with my angelic granddaughters, my daughter and her husband, my two cats and my husband. I adore all of them being here, but I love being up in the peaceful morning also. Yesterday when I got up I prepared these pancakes, that everyone loved. However, I had bought a new food processor, since parts of my old one had gotten lost in the move. A series of moves really. In any event, when I was unpacking it I somehow sliced into my thumb. Who knew the thumb was such a bleeder! So my first “thanks” for the day should be that it finally quit bleeding. As Americans we still have so much to be thankful for, so it shouldn’t be hard for me to have a lot more things to give thanks for all day long. That I have a family here and each one is responsible for a dish so I don’t have to do it all, like back in the day, is a big one!

Anyway, I substituted my new Gluten-free flour that I am in love with, and these pancakes turned out beautifully. I divided this and added the chocolate chips to part and none in part, as my guests had differing requests. They are great either way. Hope you love them too. I made about eight (8) 6- to 8-inch pancakes with this recipe and still had some left over, which I refrigerated. My daughter had tried this recipe and said it lasts for a week. These are more of a dense cake, not extremely fluffy, which is the way I like them.

We made some peach butter, and though you are thinking “peach butter with pumpkin pancakes?” you are wrong. It added a nice dimension of flavors…along with a good maple syrup. All I can say is to try it…it is so easy to make. (You won’t get the same results if you substitute for the butter or the whole milk.)

PUMPKIN SPICE PANCAKES
Ingredients:

3 cups Namaste GLUTEN FREE Perfect Flour Blend (or all-purpose flour)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 regular can of pumpkin puree (or equivalent fresh if you prefer)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs light or dark brown sugar
2 eggs
4 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2-1/2 cups whole milk*

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and chocolate chips (optional) then stir lightly until combined. Set aside.
2. In another bowl add the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, oil, and WHOLE milk and blend with using a hand mixer ( or in a blender). I used the whisk attachment on my mixer. Incorporate the ingredients very well.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk by hand gently to combine the ingredients. The batter is extremely thick. Do not thin it out. Whisk until *just* combined, no more. A few lumps may remain. Taste the batter. If you want to add more spices, go ahead. There is always room with spices to make it your own. Well, not always, but in this case. I really didn’t believe that a batter this thick would work, but I thought I would give it a try. It is truly very thick and I put a very large dollop in the pan, let it cook until I knew I could flip it over. Then, using a large, greased spatula I flattened the pancake. Hence, I had to let it cook on that side and then flip it again. Sounds worse than it is…and worth it. It is to be noted that these do not make beautiful, perfectly round pancakes. We’ll call them rustic.
4. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Coat generously with butter. Once hot, drop about 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle if you want a small pancake. Since we like ours large, I put more like 3/4 cup. Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles begin to form on the sides, about 1 minute. This recipe doesn’t bubble in the middle like typical batter. Flip and cook on the other side until cooked through. Coat griddle/skillet again with butter for each pancake or batch of pancakes.
5. If you need to, keep pancakes warm in a preheated 200F degree oven until all pancakes are cooked or serve them staggered. Pancakes taste best right after they are made. Pancakes freeze well also, maybe up to two months.

PEACH BUTTER

1 stick of butter, at room temp
1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen peaches diced fine
3 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 TBSP peach nectar

Pulse until combined well in a food processor (be careful with your thumb!). There should still be bits of peaches visible. This will store well in the refrigerator.

Enjoy! and have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.