This is adapted from the pumpkin pancake recipe in _The Big Book of
Breakfast_. I liked them a lot. Note that the batter doesn't contain any
chemical leavening; all the lift comes from the beaten egg whites.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg (see Notes)
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt (fine salt is better than coarse salt here)
1 1/3 cups milk
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
3 large eggs, separated
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
oil for cooking (see Notes)
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, allspice, nutmeg, cloves,
and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks briefly, then whisk in the
milk, pumpkin, butter, and vanilla extract. Add pumpkin mixture to dry
ingredients and whisk until smooth.
With an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold egg
whites into batter.
Preheat nonstick skillet over medium heat. Lightly spray or brush skillet
with oil. Pour about a cup of batter into skillet and swirl it around to
spread it out a bit. Let cook until bubbles form on the surface. Turn and
cook until golden on the other side, about 1 minute. Serve with topping of
your choice.
NOTES:
1. The original recipe doesn't call for nutmeg or cloves, but I thought they
were nice additions.
2. I have a squeeze bottle that I used to lightly drizzle grapeseed oil into
the skillet, then I swirled the skillet to spread it around. The original
recipe calls for vegetable oil, but that gives a taste I always associate
with carnival food.
3. The original recipe specifies 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. That's MUCH
too small for the pancakes I make. I just poured the batter in until it
looked right; I probably used about 3/4 of batter per pancake. The recipe
made 5 "normal" pancakes, enough for Lin and me.
4. I think it's necessary to cook the pancakes as soon as you fold in the
egg whites. Many pancake batters can be made ahead of time and left in the
refrigerator overnight, but this probably isn't one of them.
5. The original recipe called for medium-high heat. That was too high on my
gas range. Adjust heat as you see fit.
6. Rather than the allspice, nutmeg, and cloves, I might try a couple
teaspoons of ground ginger next time, just for variety.
7. We topped the pancakes with Trader Joe's Grade B Maple Syrup. I think
orange marmalade would have worked well too.
Bob