PUMPKIN PANCAKES

 I didn't get any posts published last week, but for a very good reason. Earlier this month we celebrated moving here to Kansas City from Ventura fourteen years ago. In some ways it seems like we have been here longer than that but probably more likely it's hard to believe we have been here that long. Either way one thing I wanted to do when we moved here was visits some more states I have never been in...mainly the northern states in the west and midwest. In particular, I wanted to go to Mount Rushmore and the area. Last week we finally did that.

We had a fabulous time and I took so many pictures. I promise I will share some of them in a post soon. It looked and felt like fall...brisk mornings 50s and high 40s and delightful days in the 60s and 70s. We did have clouds two days but the day we went to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park to see the buffalo was perfect with not one cloud in the sky and the sky ... the bluest I have ever seen. You will see what I mean when I share my pictures later this week.

Coming home on Friday my mind was racing with the prospect of getting in my kitchen and doing some baking. Fall and baking just go hand-in-hand like biscuits and gravy. I ended up making two different muffin recipes Saturday along with these delicious pumpkin pancakes. (One of the muffin recipes used pumpkin so I had leftover pumpkin I needed to use.) I do love pumpkin pancakes though so it was just natural for me to make them. I was looking through some cookbooks for recipes of main dishes I could make ahead of time and freeze when I came across this recipe. I have made pumpkin pancakes before and even shared the recipe here, but I didn't check the previous recipe.

This recipe makes a lot of pancakes and there is just the two of us. Since the recipe calls for 2 eggs, I just cut the ingredient amounts in half. I made three pancakes apiece for us Saturday night and then made four thinner ones for us last night for supper. They were thinner because I added just a bit of water to the refrigerated batter before cooking them.

PRINTABLE COPY OF RECIPE.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES

2       cups flour

2       teaspoons baking powder

1       teaspoon baking soda

1/2    teaspoon salt

1       teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4    teaspoon ground ginger

1/4    teaspoon ground nutmeg

2       eggs, lightly beaten

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

1       cup cooked, mashed pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)

1/4    cup water

1/4    cup oil

Sift together the first seven ingredients (the dry ingredients) into a large bowl.

Beat the eggs in a smaller bowl and then add the buttermilk, pumpkin, water, and oil and

stir to blend.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and

stir until blended. (I added a little more water because I prefer the batter thinner than what I made cutting the recipe in half.)

Pour batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle.

Turn pancakes when tops start to show bubbles or edges looked cooked. Cook on the other side. I place cooked pancakes on a plate buttering each and place the plate in the microwave and close the door while I cook another set.

While we were gone, one or both of our cats, Charlie or Parker, opened the door of my sewing room and had some fun. I'm just glad it wasn't worse.

I'm just glad they didn't paw the spools of thread down. That would really have been a mess to clean up.