Breakfast and Brunch - Pumpcakes
February 11, 2009 I've been in search of my first baking recipe a la other blogger, and tried one out last week (a cookie recipe) but it just wasn't up to par. I feel I owe it to you who take the time to read my posts, whoever you are, to bring you only recipes that I think are really good, not average or below average. So, I'm still looking. I've got my eye on a brownie recipe... Let's hope it's something blog-worthy.
In the meantime, I whipped up a batch of these little darlings... Pumpcakes.
Ingredient List
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 3 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 Tbsp. Packed Brown Sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 Cup Canned Pumpkin or Homemade Pumpkin Puree
- 1 tsp. Coconut Oil
- 3/4 Cup Milk
I came up with this recipe a couple years back when Little Blue Eyes was starting to eat food on his own and he still loves them. They're soft and fluffy and delicious and they are actually relatively healthy, as far as pancakes go. There's the pumpkin, which is all kinds of good for you. Then there's the fact that they're made with coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and coconut oil is also good for you, at least that's what the coconut oil people claim. It's supposed to be good for your hair, your skin, stress, immunity, digestion, dental care... The list goes on and on. And when I smell it I feel like I'm on a beautiful tropical island somewhere and my wonderful husband is slathering coconut tanning lotion all over me. And I'm skinny. And I'm tan. And our children are frolicking in the ocean surf with our hired Swedish nanny, Olga.
But I'm not here to educate anyone on health and well-being and island fantasies... I'm just here to bring you recipes for some down home good cookin'.
Let's start with the dry ingredients, shall we? Pretty straight forward: 1 cup all purpose flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Put them in a bowl and sift together. Do we need a picture of this? Maybe not. Maybe so. I took one, so here you go.
In another bowl, whisk together 1 large egg, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (you could put this in with the dry ingredients instead, if you wanted to... don't know why I didn't, but I didn't so I'm presenting it to you this way) and 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar.
To the egg, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice, stir in 1/2 cup pumpkin puree.
Remember this stuff from back when we did the pumpkin process? Well, all I did was put some in plastic bags and froze it for occasions just like this. Here it is, thawing in some cold water. It's so easy and so good and so good for you. It makes me happy to gaze upon it's golden orangy goodness. However, I would be remiss if I did not tell you that I've made this recipe with canned pumpkin before and they turned out just fine that way too.
Back to the recipe... So, like I said, add 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree to your whisked egg, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Next, we'll utilize the coconut oil of which I so highly spoke of...
Here she be, the one I use, anyway. FYI: It does smell like coconut oil and does impart a coconut flavor to recipes, but you can also buy a version that somehow has had the coconut smell and flavor taken out of it, if you need it for something that you don't want to taste like coconut. In this particular recipe, the amount I use is small enough that I don't notice a coconut taste at all.
What I like to do next is measure out the teaspoon of coconut oil I need, and put it in the 3/4 cup of milk I need, and warm the two together in the microwave.
I do this because coconut oil likes to be a solid at room temperature, and I want it to be melted so that it combines well with the other ingredients. I melt it with the milk because if I melt it on it's own and then add it to the cold milk and egg, it becomes solid again right away and doesn't incorporate well at all. Warming it (about 30 seconds or so) with the milk prevents this from happening.
Add your warm milk and coconut oil to the egg mixture, add dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Preheat a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Spray with cooking oil. Pour about 2/3 cup onto skillet to form pancake.
Allow to cook for a couple minutes until the pan-side of the pancake is golden brown, like such:
This is one of those pictures that, when you know what it is, looks appetizing, but if you didn't know what it was it could look gross. But rest assured, it's a yummy golden pumpcake. Let your appetite run wild.
Flip pancakes over and allow to cook on other side for a couple more minutes, until both sides are golden brown and cooked through.
All that's left to do is serve them up! I like to drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with pecahhhns (I can't say pe-CANs... I'm from the midwest for goodness sake), like below, but maple syrup is tasty too. Or you can eat them like Little Blue Eyes used to, toothless and with your fingers, sans sauces or drizzling of any kind. They're versatile little pancakes that way.
Reader Comments (1)
Oh my! These look delish! I love your pictures...