Pumpkin CrAzY!

I been a smidge obsessed by pumpkins this season. I know, you're thinking, everybody goes a bit overboard in October and November with pumpkin-is-ity. I'm here to tell ya, I've not merely gone overboard, I've almost turned my entire family orange!

We've had Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (ehh not so good), Pumpkin Coffee Cake (a hit), White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice cookies (different and yummy), and Pumpkin Bread that rivaled Starbucks' best offering--and speaking of Starbucks, I've had more than my share of Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

I've got a few more pumpkiny adventures lined up for us, but tonight, I'm revisiting my favorite pumpkin discovery so far--Pumpkin Pancakes! These little wonders have the most tender texture and lightness of any pancake I've ever made.  They have one extra step that I don't usually take the time to do with regular pancakes, but it is so very worth it and really, it's not that big of a deal. More on that when we get to the eggs.

Here's what you need for a recipe that makes about 20 medium-sized pancakes (we usually have some left over for the freezer). You can easily half the recipe to make less servings!

Pumpkin Pancakes with Molasses-Cinnamon Syrup
{Printable recipe here}

Pancake Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup skim milk
1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, just use 2 cups skim, or whatever kind of milk you have handy)
1 stick butter melted (8 TBSP)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups pumpkin puree
8 eggs, SEPERATED

Here's what to do...

Begin by heating your skillet or griddle.

The first part is easy.
In the biggest bowl you own, mix the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. (If you don't have pumpkin spice on hand, you can use 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/2 tsp. ground ginger). Whisk ingredients together until well combined.

Next, melt butter and add it to the two cups of milk/buttermilk mixture.

This cools the butter so that it won't cook the eggs when it comes into contact with them.

Now for the fun part. It's time to separate the eggs.

Place the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl and add the milk/butter mixture. Add to that the pumpkin and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Now for those egg whites...put them into the mixer bowl. If you have a whisk attachment on your mixer, load it up--if not, your beaters will work just fine. If you don't have an electric mixer, I've seen Martha Stewart whisk egg whites by hand with a lovely smile on her face...

Here's how I did it...

Finally, gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the mixture until the egg whites resemble cottage cheese in the mixture.

Now you're ready to cook! 

Place about 1/2 cup of the pancake batter onto griddle/skillet and spread around a little to flatten. 

Cook on the first side until the pancake begins to bubble slightly, then flip...

...and add butter and syrup, 

...and eat!!

We topped our pancakes with butter and Molasses Cinnamon syrup which I adapted from  Simple Bites.net here. 

Molasses-Cinnamon Syrup 

{Printable Recipe here}

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 Tablespoons molasses

4 Tablespoons light corn syrup 

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

Combine all in a sauce pan and heat and stir until combined well. Serve warm. Store extra syrup in the fridge.

{Pancake recipe adapted from The Curvy Carrot}