Gingerbread Pancakes

It's hard to believe that we are less than three weeks away from Christmas! While we're not a huge Christmas people, I am looking forward to going to cut our tree this weekend and getting our decor out and doing a little decor shopping at HomeGoods and World Market. I'm happy to report that a large chunk of my Christmas shopping is done already (yay cyber Monday!) and now I'm just playing the waiting game on package arrivals. The only thing I've forgotten to do so far (oops) is order Christmas cards, but it's on the to-do list for this weekend. It amazes me every year how much there is that we "have" to do at the holiday season and how the money just disappears in doing it! Hah! But I love giving gifts and feel like I've got some fun, creative gifts up my sleeve this year. My darling husband has already guessed some of the things he's getting, per usual, and I've finally learned to not be bothered that he knows 90% of what he's going to open on Christmas day, weeks in advance, despite my best efforts at keeping things secret. Either way, I can't believe the countdown is here and I'm looking forward to hearing Christmas music in my piano lessons for the next couple weeks- the kiddos always love it!




What better to share with you this Saturday morning other than homemade Gingerbread pancakes? They are the perfect holiday season breakfast treat, because you get the full flavor without it being too overpowering. As I sit here typing this next to our Christmas tree, I wish I had some again! Borrow from our trusty King Arthur Flour book, Will whipped these up while my mother was visiting a few weeks ago. We all loved them and they were easy enough that we would definitely make them again. The perfect blend of spices led to the fluffiest of pancakes. The only slightly odd thing was the cornmeal crunches that we had, but as long as you recognize that by having cornmeal in your pancakes, there will be little pellets you bite on, you're all set. Give these a go in the next few weeks!





Cooking Notes: We skipped out on the crystallized ginger that the recipe called for. He also didn't use a griddle, but instead used a frying pan. Will also used 1/3 cup instead of a 1/4 cup to make the pancakes, so they ended up being a little bit bigger in size than the recipe predicts. The recipe recommends topping with some lightly sweetened whipped cream, which would have been divine.



Gingerbread Pancakes (makes 8-10; adapted from King Arthur Flour)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 /2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp veggie oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten


In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, molasses, buttermilk and egg (pre-beaten). Add the liquid ingredients to the large bowl of dry ingredients, stirring until combined. Preheat your pan (griddle or frying pan) and lightly grease it (if not non-stick). Drop the batter, 1/3 cup at a time. Keep on the heat until the edges look dry and some of the bubbles on the surface, break. Turn the pancakes over to finish cooking then remove to a warm serving dish. Repeat until all pancakes are complete, then enjoy!