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Pancakes!

I love pancakes. I also love waffles. But growing up we never had a waffle iron so pancakes were a special breakfast item we would make. With blueberry syrup or with apples in the batter, they were good. I got a waffle iron as a wedding present and love making waffles BUT it can get messy and sometimes you don't want to pull out the waffle iron.
A friend of mine made up this great recipe for your own pancake mix (think that generic baking mix you buy at the store and add the liquids). I was so thankful for this because it saves time AND I am in more control of what's in it. 
The recipe is posted on Once A Month Mom. In my experience, it creates great, fluffy pancakes, especially when you make plain pancakes. 
But this last weekend I wanted to make pumpkin pancakes. My mom was in town and I had some leftover pumpkin puree that I wanted to use up. SO, I took Pioneer Woman's pumpkin pancake recipe and merged it with the OAMM recipe. Here's what I came up with:


Pumpkin Pancakes 

1 1/2 c. pancake mix
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 c. pumpkin puree (approximate)1 egg, beaten1 c. milk (approximate)1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. nuts, chopped (walnuts or pecans would be good), optional
Add pumpkin pie spice to dry pancake mix. Mix wet ingredients (puree, egg, milk and vanilla) well. Stir wet into dry ingredients and fold nuts in. Let the batter sit while you heat up your skillet (I find this helps make the pancakes fluffier). Heat your skillet or griddle on medium or medium high heat and lightly grease. I like to use a 
ladle to scoop the batter onto the cooking surface, but it depends on how big you like your pancakes. 
Cook on one side until it's bubbly across the whole pancake and using a large spatula, flip the pancake over and cook on the other side. Sometimes I flip mine back and forth a couple times to get it to the right color. 
Makes 6-8 pancakes. 
If you have leftover pancakes (I usually do, and it's awesome!), wrap them up and put them in the fridge for a later breakfast (they don't usually last long in our house). I like to reheat mine on a dry skillet. It warms them up and helps get them a little crispy again. Just put the skillet on medium heat and flip the pancake a few times till it's warmed on both sides. 

Now, cooking pancakes. I've been working on these for years. I still mess them up all the time. Sometimes my pan is too hot, sometimes I'm too impatient and I flip the pancake too early. 
You want to make sure your batter isn't too thin or too thick. It needs to be thin enough to pour but not so thin that it runs all over your pan. Sometimes the thicker batters aren't so bad but you want the batter to spread out some when you put it on the skillet. I've had some that when I put it on the skillet, it didn't move. That'll end up being too thick of a pancake. The thicker the pancake, the harder it is to get it cooked all the way through. I've eaten a few questionable pancakes over the years, but I've survived. You should have a good size spatula to use if you're making larger pancakes. So I recommend using a lower heat for your pancakes and being patient. It may take a little longer but you'll have less of a chance that the pancake will burn. 
Hope you enjoy this! I love taking the time on the weekends to make up a special breakfast. Sometimes it ends up being an early lunch but it's fun either way. Soon I hope to post a biscuit and gravy recipe that we love. (there's those biscuits again...)

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