Gingerbread Pancakes
We made these Gingerbread Pancakes last night for dinner. I had them with the Sweet Lemon Cream Sauce from yesterday on them. I sighed, Mr. Wonderful smiled, and Brettley gave them her “they’re really good!” stamp of approval. I may never make regular pancakes again. Between these and the Pumpkin Pancakes I made last year, they seem a little…boring now?
This recipe is delicious and would be wonderful served on Christmas morning with a variety of topping choices, like warm applesauce, toasted pecans or walnuts, raspberry preserves, whipped cream and fresh berries or even for the kiddos…red and green sprinkles!
It’s just like mixing any other pancake recipe. First you mix your dry ingredients together. Add in one cup of white flour and one cup of wheat flour to a mixing bowl. Dump in 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder. Then measure out some spices. You’ll need 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves.
Dump all of these into your mixing bowl.
Turn on your mixer and fluff this around for a minute to mix. You could even use a hand whisk if you’d rather.
Hey man, I’m all about not having to haul out your KitchenAid unless absolutely necessary. Those things are stinking HEAVY!
Now mix together your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Whip up one egg. Add in a cup and 1/2 of milk, then mix it all together.
Then open up a jar of this loveliness.
Molasses. It makes you want to wear plaid flannel and hiking boots or it reminds you of your Grandma Ethel’s kitchen. (I actually had a Grandma Ethel). I just love the smell of this stuff. It’s goodness in a jar.
It makes me want to lick the spoon too. True story – my dad mixes sorghum molasses with butter and spreads it on toast. It’s scrumptious.
Dump in one fourth of a cup of this…this will help give your pancakes their nice brown color ..you know like gingerbread?
Also add in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or applesauce. I promise I’m not gonna lose my mind and regale you with stories of oil and applesauce like I did with the molasses. I apologize!
Now whisk this all together.
Take your bowl of wet molasses, egg and milk. Turn on your mixer and slowly drizzle the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients whilst mixing.
Don’t add too it too slowly, as we don’t want to ever over mix pancake batter and make it tough! Just don’t dump it all in in one big plop.
Almost there.
And we’re done.
Now take a ladle, (one that measures out about a half cup) and heat up your griddle with a little vegetable oil brushed on it. This helps you keep from having mismatched pancakes in size. Nothing like a lop-sided stack of pancakes right?
As evenly as possible, ladle out six pancakes out on the griddle.
I’ve found a safe place with this size and six seems to work for me just right on a standard griddle. Mr. Wonderful would probably make more because he’s competitive like that.
He also has better fine motor skills than me, but we won’t talk about that.
When the tops bubble and the bottom is browned, flip them over. This is usually around 1-2 minutes.
Leave them to brown on the second side another minute or so. Then stack them up on a platter to serve.
They will be a darker color than usual pancakes due to the molasses and spices and that’s exactly what you want them to look like! Like the color of gingerbread men!
Put these out with all those previously mentioned toppings we talked about.
Then dig in baby while they’re nice and hot!
Make these anytime this winter for your loved ones. They’re gonna love you.
I promise.
- 1 c. wheat flour
- 1 c. white flour
- ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 t. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- ¼ t. salt
- 1½ t. ground cinnamon
- 1 t. ground ginger
- ½ t. of ground nutmeg
- ¼ t. ground cloves
- 1½ c. milk
- 1 egg
- ¼ c. molasses
- 3 T. vegetable oil or applesauce
- Vegetable oil for brushing griddle
- In a medium bowl, whisk dry ingredients (first 9 ingredients) together until well incorporated.
- In a separate larger bowl, mix together wet ingredients (not vegetable oil for brushing).
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
- Only mix until combined.
- Don't over mix.
- Brush grill with vegetable oil and heat.
- Pour ½ cup of batter per pancake onto griddle.
- Cook just until the top begins puffing and bubbles form all over.
- Flip to other side and cook another minute or two or until browned.
- Top with Lemon Butter Sauce, Maple Syrup or Berry Preserves.
- ½ c.sugar
- 2 T. cornstarch
- 1½ c. half-and-half, heavy cream or whole milk
- 4 T. butter
- 1 medium lemon, zested
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
- 2 T. finely chopped crystallized ginger
- In a small saucepan off the heat, combine sugar and cornstarch.
- Stir in half-and-half, cream or milk.
- Add butter
- Turn heat on medium-low and cook, stirring until it begins to thicken and gets bubbly.
- Reduce heat to low and stir for another minute.
- Remove from heat and add zest and juice and stir another minute.
- Add ginger and serve.
