I love making pancakes on the weekend. Something about the ritual of measuring out the ingredients and gently stirring, folding and mixing them all together is so calming to me.
My son loves his weekend pancakes and I now have the challenge of creating new recipes to keep things fresh and exciting and educating his palate with new flavours.
It’s fall and the shops are replete with pumpkins, which made me feel a bit homesick. Actually, I’m pretty sure the homesickness started around Canadian Thanksgiving when M made a butternut squash and pumpkin pie to celebrate. Nevertheless, I put together this pumpkin pancake recipe to celebrate this amazing ingredient.
What you need:
180g chestnut flour (you can also use wholemeal flour instead!)
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 large free-range eggs
250ml almond milk (or organic whole milk, if dairy works for you)
3 tbsp fresh pureéd pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
10-15g melted butter
How to make it:
- Sift the chestnut flour, baking soda and cinnamon into a medium sized bowl and stir until the ingredients are combined.
- Crack the eggs and separate the egg yolks and whites, setting the yolks aside.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are frothy. This is key for really fluffy pancakes!
- Slowly fold the milk into the dry mixture, then add the egg yolks and pumpkin.
- Add the butter and stir.
- Slowly fold the egg whites in the mixture until the egg whites can no longer be seen. Do not over fold!
- Leave the batter to stand for at least 10 minutes so the milk and baking soda have enough time to interact.
- After 7 minutes, warm up your cast-iron pan on medium heat. After a few minutes, add a tablespoon of your oil of choice and make sure the bottom of the pan is completely covered.
- Turn the stove down to medium-low heat. Cast-iron pans conduct heat really well, so a little heat goes a long way.
- Use an ice cream scoop to drop the batter in. I like to make pancakes on the smaller side so they are easier to flip.
- Once bubbles start to form on the edges of the pancakes (normally after a minute or so), flip them over. Chestnut flour tends to cook a bit faster than wheat flour so you’ll need to keep a close eye so they don’t burn. I learned this the hard way!
- Once you’ve made all your pancakes, top with the toppings of your choice. I like toppings such as fresh fruit, compote, dried coconut, chopped nuts and cacao nibs.