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Pancake Fridays(!!!) + Pumpkin Pancakes

by Published: Sep 21, 2012 Modified: Jan 26, 2023

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The other day when it occured to me that I haven’t blogged about pancakes in, oh, FOREVER. Which is funny, because I make them, oh, ALL THE TIME. Or so.

I figured I needed to remedy this. So…ta-da! I’m starting a new series, starting today…PANCAKE FRIDAYS! This series will be all about you. As in me structuring myself to share more with you about my namesake obsession with this awesome food item.

Because really, what’s not to be obsessed about? Cakey carbs. There are probably as many adjectives to describe them as there are types of pancakes (aka a million bajillion), but um what more do we need than that? CAKE. CARB. DONE.

Pancakes are just a mind-bogglingly versatile food (German pancakes! French crepes! American flapjacks! Jewish latkes! Dutch pancakes!), and I can find something good to say about all of them. Except spongy pancakes. Gross.

Do you like your pancakes puffy and thick? Thin and silky? Crispy-edged? Plain? Drenched in syrup? Skinny so that you can stack up a pile and eat them in layers? SAVORY?!

Today’s post is in keeping with a week of pumpkin: pumpkin pancakes. And these. These are so puffy but light–just an irrisistable cloud of airy pumpkin sweetness. They’re very close to my pancake ideal. (Ha, I’m not even sure I know what that is.)

But let’s just say that I’ve eaten many, many pancakes and pumpkin pancakes don’t usually make my top five, but these blew right past numbers 4, 3, and 2 and is currently wrestling for the #1 spot. They’re that good. And they use mostly virtuous white whole wheat flour with not even that much oil!

On top of all that, they are a breeze. Time spent with these pancakes probably goes something like: 10% making, 10% eating, 80% photographing.

It’s fall. It’s time. What are you waiting for? Get in your kitchen and make these this weekend!

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Pancake Fridays(!!!) + Pumpkin Pancakes

Incredibly thick and puffy pancakes chock-full of pumpkin are perfect for cozy fall brunches. Not too sweet, these earn a dousing of quality maple syrup.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup buttermilk I used 1 scant cup almond milk + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3-4 tablespoons dark brown sugar 3 for barely sweet, 4 if you want the sweetness to be more pronounced without additional syrup

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon). In a separate bowl, whisk together the last six ingredients (buttermilk through brown sugar).
  • Start pre-heating a pan over medium low heat. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Lumps are ok; just make sure all the flour on the bottom of the bowl is mixed in. Batter should be THICK. Thick batter = fluffy pancakes.
  • Drop pancakes by quarter cupfuls into preheated pan and increase the temperature to medium heat. If pancakes are cooking too fast, turn heat back to medium low. Pancakes are ready to turn when the edges start to look a little dry and you can see small bubbles forming on the surface, about 2-3 minutes. You should easily be able to nudge the spatula under the pancake. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes.
  • Serve immediately with cinnamon powdered sugar, butter, agave, or syrup. (Or place on a baking sheet in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.)

Notes

Adapted from here.
You can really use any type of flour in this recipe, but cake flour adds an especially silky texture in baked goods where whole grains might otherwise weight it down with dense texture. These were still extraordinarily puffy with all white whole wheat flour though.
These pancakes are slightly less sweet than typical pancakes, so use more than 2 tablespoons of sugar if you like sweeter pancakes to start with before all the accoutrements 🙂

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Comments

  1. Christine

    I used skim milk and all whole wheat pastry flour, as that is what I had on hand. I used apple cider vinegar too. They turned out great! Used lots of maple syrup and had thick cut bacon on the side. My kid loves me. And the pancakes. Coincidence?
    Practice question- when you make fluffy pancakes- do you spread the batter out just a touch in the pan? Or leave them completely as dolloped? I spread mine as I was concerned about cooking through, and they were still thick and fluffy, but I wondered if I was being a wimp about it.

    • erika

      Christine! You are one of my favorite commenters 🙂 And we are mind twins because I just made these yesterday too!! So I can tell you with confidence that when I make fluffy pancakes (these in particular), I do smoosh them down a little in the pan, just enough to flatten them into a round shape, so the batter ends up maybe 3/4-1″ tall. But then they puff up as they cook. Good question!

      And these turned out a lot less sweet than I remembered, so glad you used lots of maple syrup and that your kid loved them anyway 🙂

  3. Courtney @ Bake. Eat. Repeat.

    Ohmayum…these look like my perfect pancake. I love em thick and fluffy and stacked as high as they’ll go. I actually just had pumpkin pancakes at ihop yesterday, and while tasty they weren’t nearly pumpkiny enough for more liking (and I’m quite sure they were about a thousand times less healthy than these). Will definitely be trying your version! Thank you for sharing and thanks for stopping by Bake.Eat.Repeat!

    • erika

      Me too! In fact, your buttermilk pancakes are my go to pancakes when I just want thick, fluffy and simply delicious. I crave them all the time!! I would be so super happy if you tried these…and let me know how it goes!

      And man, I’ve been disappointed in ihop! I went a few months ago for the first time in years, and their pancakes are certainly fluffy, but not as…hefty? as I would want. And their cheesecake pancakes were just not. Cheesecakey enough.

  7. Bailey

    Wow! Look at those suckers! Those are really puffy, lol. They look awesome!! I love my pancakes to be thick and a bit crispy on the outside, but then I drown them in syrup and wait for the sogginess to set in. I know, I’m a weirdo. I also like soggy cereal!

    • erika

      Haha, I love soggy cereal too!! My roommate used to pour milk in her cereal and inhale it before it could really get wet, which I never understood. Soggy Special K or flaky cereal is my fav 🙂

      AND soggy pancakes are also awesome. Especially if you have a delicious syrup!

    • erika

      Thanks Kristi! I propose a swap: I’ll trade you some pumpkin pancakes for your amazing sounding chocolate chip pancakes! I, for some freak reason, am actually not usually a fan of chocolate chips in my pancakes, but if it is the BEST one you’ve found, then I believe it must be awesome! 🙂