Autumn Cinnamon Plum Pancakes....

There is nothing I appreciate more than creative cookery, yet I find that when it comes to breakfast there is a severe lack of imagination. I like to try and make a nice breakfast for my husband at least once a week - pancakes are his favorite - and at this point I’ve used and reused every single pancake or waffle recipe from every single cookbook I own. Even breakfast menus in restaurants are always the same. Pumpkin or ginger pancakes in the fall. Blueberry, and black berry pancakes in the summer. Traditional pancakes all year round along with banana ‘bread’ pancakes, apple pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and pecan pancakes. A person can only wolf down so many blueberry pancakes in a lifetime. What’s worse is I find that so many pancake recipes call for either dried or frozen fruit, so few use fresh seasonal fruit, and I find that really unfortunate. So I’ve decided to make it my mission to develop and create interesting pancake recipes using fruits and other ingredients you might not normally consider.

Variety is the spice of life after all, so I hope you enjoy this recipe that utilized warming fall spices along with fresh fall produce, and even if you’re not a fan of plums this recipe might just surprise you.

Autumn Cinnamon Plum Pancakes

1 3/4 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
2-4 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 ½ tsp ground Cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Cardamom
1 C Unsweetened Almond Milk
2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 plums = 1 C Plum Puree
Extra plums for garnish (optional)

- Put a medium sized pot of water on the stove and bring to a roaring boil. Place plums in the boiling water and boil for roughly 5-10 minutes until soft and skins are starting to come loose.

- Drain plums in a colander reserving and blanch in a bowl of ice water. After a couple of minutes in the ice water the skins should be loose enough to rub off or peel away. If the skins give you a bit of trouble don’t worry peel away as much as you can it’s okay if a little skin is left.

- Remove pits from the plums and then puree in a food processor till smooth. Should yield roughly one cup.

- In a medium sized bowl combine pastry flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, and nutmeg. Mix until well combined.

- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the Almond milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and plum puree. Mix until just combined. Taste and adjust spices and sugar as needed.

*** NOTE - Keep in mind that if your plums are a little on the tart side the batter is going to taste tart and possibly unpleasant. However once the pancakes are cooked the tart flavor will have mellowed out completely. If your plums are sweet, and the batter tastes sweet you may want to consider using only 2 Tbsp of brown sugar or less, it’s up to you. If the plums are tart I recommend the 4 Tbsp of brown sugar. ***

- Use a quarter cup measuring cup to pour batter in a greased heated pan (medium to medium-low heat) or
electric griddle and cook until edges of batter start to brown and top is bubbly. About 3-4 minutes.

- Flip pancakes over and cook another 2-4 minutes until pancakes are nicely browned on both sides.

- Serve garnished with fresh plum slices, a dash of powdered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup. I think fresh blueberries would go very well with these pancakes as well if you have them on hand.

Enjoy on a beautiful sunny fall morning with a mug of chai tea, and a glass of orange juice while you watch the leaves change color outside your window.

PS: The Farm Sanctuary Walk for Farm Animals Charity Walk on Saturday September 10^th was Fantastic. We had a lot of fun, got to talk to some wonderful people including Gene Bauer (The Co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary.) Got to sample some delicious treats from local restaurants and just had an all around great time. The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny with a nice breeze and even though we were about $35 short of our goal we had a fantastic time, I can’t wait to do it again next year. Thanks again to all who supported us.