Mmm… These delicious pumpkin spice pancakes are quickly becoming a weekend staple in our house… In fact, they’re so good that it’s very likely that I might not go back to making regular pancakes until next spring. {Not that I think anyone around here would mind.}
Oh my goodness… Miss G and I have been having way too much fun with our advent activities this year! I’m so thankful that I created all of our advent activity cards ahead of time – having them pre-made and ready in a jar has saved me tons of time already, and I never have to worry about coming up with a fun idea because the ideas are already right there in front of me.
You know what I miss? Spending time cooking and baking with Miss G. Don’t get me wrong… We do still spend some time in the kitchen together, but definitely not as much as we used to. Back home in Canada we probably did a cooking or baking project once a day. So what’s changed? Well firstly, here in Kuwait, I tutor several afternoons/evenings a week which means dinner prep is often done while Miss G rests after lunch, but mostly, our kitchen here just isn’t very inviting. And when your kitchen is a dark converted bedroom way on the far end of the apartment, spending a lot of time in it just isn’t that high on the priority list. That being said, I’d really like to get back into it. Time to suck it up. Grae loves cooking, I love cooking, and with the weather getting hotter (it’s currently 38 degrees), spending a little more time indoors is starting to become a necessity.
With nowhere to be this morning, Miss G and I declared it a pancake day. Her request? Making them heart-shaped. {Why not, right?} We whipped up a batch of our usual wholewheat flax and oat pancake batter and attempted to make it pink with the addition of beet juice. It didn’t work the way I was hoping it would {or at all really}, but oh well! We put our batter into the same squeeze bottle we use when we make spiderweb pancakes, and then simply created heart-shaped outlines and filled them in.
Very rarely does Brad ever make meal / recipe suggestions, but this summer he came home from volleyball all jazzed up about trying a new pancake recipe after hearing about it from one of his teammates. They did sound really interesting – they were flour-free, made of whole foods, and totally Miss G friendly, but for some reason or another {most likely the fact that we were packing up our house and moving overseas with a 2 year old in tow at the time}, we didn’t get around to making them.
This morning Grae and I woke up and decided on pancakes for breakfast. We were just about to gather our ingredients as the phone rang. As I snuck in a very quick conversation with my sister-in-law, Miss G got started without me apparently… Anyone up for cornmeal-cocoa-double-salt-tomato pancakes?
You don’t want to know how much salt was already poured into the bowl…
♥
I’ve made these pancakes for special occasions few times before, and let me tell you, they are delicious. Super healthy, however, they are not. So this morning, my little sous chef and I set out to make a healthier, wholewheat version, sans refined sugar and butter. I’m happy to say, they turned out amazingly well! While not the fluffiest pancakes in the world, they were light, tender, and full of lemony flavour, just the way we like them.
Now, I must admit, I was being a little bit chicken and didn’t go for all wholewheat flour this time around (don’t know what got into me – using white flour is not normally even an option in our house!) Next time, I’d just go all in and use wholewheat flour only. Here’s the version we made this morning…
Wholewheat Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
Pour milk into a measuring cup or bowl. Add vinegar and stir gently. Set aside. (Or just use store bought buttermilk instead.)
Measure out all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix well.
In a separate bowl, add all of the wet ingredients, including the homemade buttermilk and lemon zest, and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix until just combined (this is important – do not over mix!)
Cook on a 300 degree griddle, flipping when bubbles begin to form.
Serve with berries and pure maple syrup.
Enjoy!
UPDATE: Since making these the first time, we now always use only wholewheat flour, and the end result is just as delicious. Cutting the pure maple syrup down a little too doesn’t hurt a thing and when in a pinch, chia seeds make for a great poppy seed replacement.