Pumpkin Pancakes & Apple Cider Syrup

I think I have mentioned how terribly I am missing autumn before. I miss the cool breeze, the changing leaves, and the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Thankfully I have access to the spices since the first two are impossible to buy in the desert.

I had some extra pumpkin and had this urge to make pumpkin pancakes for a while, so on Sunday morning I made them for our lovely wonderful guests from CA! The recipe is from allrecipes.com, (one of the best recipe sites, btw!) To top off this delicious breakfast, I threw together an amazing apple cider syrup.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat flour)
  
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

There is no recipe for the apple cider syrup since I made it up on the spot! But all I did was pour about 1 cup of apple cider in a pot on medium heat with some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I then added a few tablespoons of flour (corn starch would have been ideal since you need 1/2 the starch to flour but I didn't have any) and whisked that in while over the heat for about 10 minutes until it thickened.

The pancakes were wonderful and fluffy. I was unsure what the wheat flour and pumpkin would do to the texture but they turned our really well. The pumpkin pancakes weren't very sweet so it was a good thing we had the syrup on hand! The combination of pumpkin, spices, and apple cider was really amazing. Expect some more pumpkin/apple cider combinations in the future!