Intro To Cooking: Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Though it’s getting a bit chillier these days, it’s still Fall, pumpkin-flavored anything is still awesome, and there’s basically nothing better than waking up and making yourself pancakes on a blustery morning, afternoon, or night.

Ok, so maybe having some hottie do it for you would be nice, but you’ll forget all about that once you bite into these badboys.

This recipe is slightly complicated, but it’s nothing a relatively cheap trip the neighborhood grocery store and 30 minutes in the kitchen won’t fix.

And, like that thick trainer at my gym always says, “no pain, no gain.” I’m pretty sure he’s talking about a 45-minute run on the treadmill, but I just think it means all that cooking will be worth it when you’re filled with 2 lbs of pumpkin pancake bliss.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vegetable oil
Maple syrup

What to Do:

1. Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Whisk milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth (batter will be thick).

4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 batches.

5. Brush large nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium heat. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet.

6. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side.

7. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with oil between batches.

8. Serve with syrup…and fall in love. Then go back for seconds. And thirds. We won’t tell.