Pumpkin Pancakes

Do you smell that? Take a biiiiiig whiff. Oh yes, there is scant amount of FALL weather looming in the air and I am here for it. I am Fall's biggest fan: cozy sweaters, apple cider, apple pie, pumpkins, pumpkin picking, butternut squash, warm coffee in the crisp, morning air. I love it all. Nothing welcomes in the fall season quite like pumpkin recipes, and these pumpkin pancakes are the best recipe to do so. They're made with delicious pastry flour, pumpkin pie spice from one of my favorite brands, and 100% pure pumpkin pureé. I'm probably biased, but these are some of the best pancakes ever, and the simplest ingredients to boot.

Do you know the history of pancakes? History states that pancakes were actually created in the Stone Age (whaaaat?) and remnants of pancakes were found in Otzi the Iceman, on his final hike 5,300 years ago. Initially, pancakes were make up of ground einkorn (one of the oldest grains) flour, curdled milk, honey, yeast, and sugar. You can read more about the history of pancakes here. Nevertheless, pancakes (or referred to as flapjacks or hotcakes in some parts of the country) are amazing, delicious, and don't have to be super complicated. Cue these pumpkin pancakes. You can virtually use any type of flour, but I opted to use my pastry flour from Bob's Red Mill. Pastry flour yields an airy texture, leaving the pancakes fluffy and not very dense. If you don't have pastry flour it is totally fine, use whatever flour you have such as AP flour or even a gluten-free blend such as Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 flour or their Gluten Free AP Flour.

Pumpkin Pancakes Tips and Swaps:

• No pastry flour? No problem! Swap it with GF flour or regular all-purpose. I do not regularly bake with alternatives such as oat or almond, so if this is your only option, I cannot attest to how the turn out.
• Swap out the milk for milk-alternatives, orrrr buttermilk. Buttermilk will add a delicious tang and a deeper coloring to the batter which honestly tastes so good.
• Remember: whisk with caution. Any over-mixing of any batter will cause the gluten to be overworked, thus the batter will get very gummy with the end results being tacky, chewy, and hard to eat. A trick to limit the mixing is to add in the flour bit by bit to alleviate mixing it all at once.
• Use pumpkin pureé, not pumpkin pie filling. They're both different, and you can find the pumpkin pureé at any grocery store.