Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Those of you that are fortunate enough to traffic Jersey diners on a regular basis probably look forward to Halloween as much as I do for one particular reason.  Just before Halloween, and through Thanksgiving, most of the diners offer up their precious pumpkin pancakes as a substitute for their regular batter.  I am, admittedly, not a huge fan of pancakes, but this time of year I find myself gravitating not only to the diner, but also to the breakfast menu morning, noon, and night!  My favorite diner offers up a nice 3 pancake platter with a meat side (choice of scrapple, sausage links, Italian sausage, or bacon) for approximately 7 bucks.  While I love getting them at the diner (it's all about the ambiance), at 7 dollars, this habit can become a little pricey!  After a failed attempt earlier this week (do not, I repeat DO NOT add pumpkin puree to pancake batter), I finally managed to get close to what the diner's pumpkin pancakes taste like.  After some trial, and serious error, I figured out that the magic lies in pumpkin pie spices, and not actual pumpkin!  On a quick side note, before I move on to the recipe, if you have not experienced the Amish delicacy that is scrapple, I will touch on it in another blog post soon!  The closest thing I can equate it to is a spicy meat hashbrown...nonetheless...it is delish!


Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Yields 3 servings (2 large pancakes per person)

To Prepare the Pancakes
1. Mix 3 cups of complete pancake powder with 2 cups of water.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, and 1/2 a teaspoon each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Blend this all very well!
3. Heat a small amount of butter or non-stick cooking spray in a frying pan over LOW heat.  Low heat is the key to perfectly golden brown pancakes!  There are few things worse that looking forward to pancakes and getting a plate of burnt offerings instead!
4. Pour and slightly spread 1/2 a cup of batter into the pan, and let it rest until the batter is firm and rising around the edges and bubbling on the top.  Gently flip it!  As far as the measurement of batter goes, I like to make gigantic pancakes, but you can go with what ever size you prefer or normally make!

I make my pancakes in a 6 inch pan so I have control over their size and shape!

5. Cook on the other side until the pancake has risen more and it has a golden brown color on the bottom.  Check it gently with a spatula to see if the bottom is brown.  As a rule of thumb, if you cannot get the pancake edge to lift easily with the spatula, it is more than likely still cooking, and also, if you press down on the top with the spatula and it doesn't bounce back, your pancake is not done cooking yet! 
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you are out of batter!

Pass the syrup!

7. Serve with maple syrup, and I made some sausage to go along side it, too!