Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Last month I ran across a recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes in the October issue of our church's magazine, The Friend. I'm pretty sure the dialogue in my head went something like this, "Mmm, pumpkin pancakes; I bet those are tasty! I love pumpkin! BUT will my kids eat them? Pumpkin is good for you, right!? It must have some sort of vitamins and/or antioxidants. This is the perfect way to get some veggies into their diet without them knowing it! I'll just have to make sure and tell Dad not to mention anything about them being pumpkin pancakes...they're just pancakes, and we all LOVE pancakes!"

So, with my sneaky plan in order I mixed up a batch.

Pumpkin Pancakes:

2 cups dry pancake mix
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Spray a frying pan with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat it on the stove on medium.
2. Combine the pancake mix and water in a large bowl. Add pumpkin and cinnamon and stir well. If the batter is too thick, add a little water. If the batter is too thin, add a little pancake mix.
3. Pour a scoop (about 1/4 cup) of batter into the hot frying pan.

When the pancake bubbles on top, it's time to flip it over.

 

Cook until both sides are golden brown.

4. Serve with bananas, applesauce, or another favorite topping, and enjoy!

 

Tip: If you don't have dry pancake mix, you can make your own! Stir together these ingredients in place of the pancake mix in the recipe:

 

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup powdered milk

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Of course this is my personal opinion...they were just okay. My boys didn't seem to fond of them and our little girl liked them the most. I thought they tasted like raw, plain pumpkin.

 

I didn't give up though, I had to make these work. So, I thought about it and came up with Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes. I mixed up a batch yesterday and they were a hit!

 

Just follow the recipe above but with these changes:

 

When mixing up the batter, instead of 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon add 1/2 teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice.

 

Also add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips. I like to put these in a small bowl and mix them with a little bit of flour. This helps them to stay "floating" in the batter rather than sinking to the bottom of the bowl.

 

I also like to re-stir the batter before I put a new batch of pancakes into the pan, just to make sure that the chocolate chips are evenly distributed.

 

Here they are: (even though the picture is sideways)

 

 

The kids did find out that there is pumpkin in the pancakes, but it doesn't matter because they snarfed them down! I only have two left and they're hiding in the fridge so I can have them! : )

 

Just think of all the possibilities for these babies! My kids ate them with maple syrup and loved them. I ate them with some killer homemade butterscotch syrup that my friend gave to me. BUT you could also serve them with buttermilk syrup...what about warm with a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream...you could also do a stack of three with whipped cream between each layer...you could do chocolate sauce...what about sugared or caramelized pecans...oh, the possibilities!

 

Maybe this year you can have a Thanksgiving pancake feast for breakfast!

 

What do you do with this leftover canned pumpkin? I measured mine out in 3/4 cup increments and put them in little freezer bags and threw them in the freezer. That way the next time I want to mix up a batch, I can just thaw the portion that I need!