I saw on a Paleo blog about making pumpkin pancakes and they looked AWESOME. I saw a drawback the person was using dried pumpkin and you need to order it. Our kids LOVE pumpkin and I wasn't going to order dry pumpkin when we can go to the store and purchase a can of pumpkin puree.
Since I have made banana pancakes I figured this would be easy as a banana is pretty close in consistency to pumpkin puree. I made one bad batch and then perfected the recipe with the 2nd batch so that the pancake was a lot easier to flip.
Ingredients for the Pancakes/Crepes:
3 eggs
1/4 cup cottage cheese ( I use Daisy 4% milk fat)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree*
1/8 tsp Jamaican Allspice**
1/8 tsp ground cloves**
1/8 tsp nutmeg**
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
* I used pumpkin puree that had no seasonings in it as we can not eat anything with cinnamon in it.
** These are according to our tastes in our family you can add more if you would like. I did not add any cinnamon to ours however your more than welcome to add cinnamon to your liking.
Directions:
1) Pre-heat a non-stick pan so that it is nice and hot once your done mixing your ingredients. I only have non-stick pans and I do not have a griddle.
2) Take the first 6 ingredients and add to a food processor and process until smooth.
3) Pour your batter into a measuring cup as it makes it easier to pour. Now add your baking powder and baking soda to your batter and take a whisk and whisk gently until combined.
4) Pour a medium amount into the center of your pan. Do not place more than one in the pan as it makes the pancakes/crepes hard to flip.
5) Be patient as these are not your typical pancakes. Wait for bubbles to form all over the pancake you will see the edge firm up and then flip your pancake. If you are not patient and try to flip too soon the pancake will not flip.
6) Cook on opposite side for 1-2 minutes. It's a watch your pancake/crepes type of deal you will see it rise in the center and then fall and that is when you know it is fully cooked.
7) Remove from the pan and let either cool down to add filling to make crepes or you can enjoy them as pancakes and put some syrup on them.
**WARNING** the frosting recipes make a lot and they store in the fridge for awhile. I like to make up large batches so that I can make pancakes for more than 1 meal.
Ingredients for the filling:
I used the traditional cream cheese frosting however I think using cream cheese, heavy cream and agave/maple syrup would have been better.
Traditional cream cheese frosting ingredients:
1-8oz package cream cheese
4 Tbs melted butter
2lbs powdered sugar
Take the cream cheese and set out for a little bit and cut up and place in a mixing bowl. Mix your cream cheese until there are no lumps. Add melted butter to cream cheese you may need to scrape the bowl down. Then add your powdered sugar and mix on LOW. You can gradually increase your mixer speed and add warm water to thin it out to your liking. This frosting is heavy and you can just spread the frosting all over the pancake and fold into 3 for the crepe. Or lay flat and spoon and spread.
Non-Traditional cream cheese filling:
1-8oz package cream cheese room temperature
1-16oz heavy whipping cream
Agave nectar/Maple Syrup to taste***
*** I have only used Agave nectar with this recipe so I do not know how stable this would be with Maple Syrup. With Agave nectar I can place this in the fridge and it will not separate it is VERY stable.
Place the heavy cream and cut up cream cheese into a mixing bowl and start on low and gradually increase the speed until firm peaks are in it. This means when you take off the whisk you can place firm peaks that will not fall in your mix. Add your agave nectar to your liking I usually just eyeball it.
Place in the middle of your crepes as this will be light and fluffy filling and be really good.
ENJOY!
