Pumpkin pancake パンプキンパンケーキ

Our favorite pancake is blueberry butter milk pancake. During blueberry season we make a batch of these pancakes almost every weekend and freeze the extras we make. They freeze very well. After making the “super secret” pumpkin bread we had canned pumpkin left over so, in keeping with the season, we decided to make pumpkin pancakes. I usually use 4 identical non-stick 8 inch frying pans to make a batch of pancakes. I could make the pancakes without oil or butter in the pan but my wife informed me that the oil is essential for the crispy "fried" edges she likes. My wife found this recipe on line.



Compared to our buttermilk pancakes, these really puffed up much higher. We enjoyed them with small amount of maple syrup and a side of espresso coffee.



The below is a direct quote from the original recipe (italicized) with our modification in parentheses.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk (We made our own
1/2 cup Pumpkin puree
1/4 cup water
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Chopped pecan (we first roasted and chopped) 

Instructions:

Toast about a cup of pecans, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in large bowl. Combine evaporated milk, pumpkin, water (we actually just used regular milk), egg and 2 tablespoons oil in small bowl; mix well. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened; batter may be lumpy. (Stir in chopped pecans.)

HEAT griddle or skillet over medium heat; brush lightly with oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle; cook until bubbles begin to burst. Turn and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with  Pumpkin maple syrup (We just used straight maple syrup). 

This made a total of 10 pancakes. Here is the picture of the 8 remaining pancakes (we ate two). In addition to the pumpkin pie spice called for in this recipe, we did not have evaporated milk either. We have not used or bought evaporated milk for ages. So in addition to making our own pumpkin pie spice, we also made our own evaporated milk. I know what you are thinking; that we have entirely too much time on our hand to do something as silly as that but there were extenuating circumstances. First, we really wanted to make these pancakes, second we had some excess milk that we were wondering what to do with before it went bad. We consulted the internet and found it was fairly easy to make evaporated milk--just simmer a quart of milk until it is reduced by half. (While the process of actually making the evaporated milk was easy, cleaning the pan was not. Trust me, it is worth it to buy it in a can). It took half a day to make and the end product had chunks of "scum" or "membrane" (I assume from the milk protein). We strained the liquid and the end result was fairly thick, deep cream color and tasted pretty good. The funny thing is that this recipe calls for evaporated milk and then adds water. Why not just use regular milk? After all that work we were not about to add water so we used enough regular milk to make the batter of pouring consistency. We have a feeling that just adding milk or a mixture of milk and cream may do just as well as evaporated milk and water.

We really like this pancake. It has a nice pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavor and is nicely moist and fluffy. The canned pumpkin adds some mild sweetness. The toasted pecans added a nice crunch. These pancakes, like the blueberry pancakes also freeze very well. We took these to work for breakfast and they revived nicely in the microwave oven.