Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Happy Memorial Day. Being home from work today and not having church to get ready for, I have time to make a fun breakfast. Not that I don't make breakfast that often, on the contrary, I get to make breakfast once or twice per week, most weeks. But this is the first time I have been able to both make breakfast and blog about it.

Last night I ask one of my lovely daughters what she wanted for breakfast this morning and she replied, "chocolate chip pancakes." I love chocolate in all its splendid glory and varieties (I've even used chocolate in a wonderful chicken recipe - Caribbean Chicken (see previous post), however, I've never really cared for them in pancakes. The gooey chocolate oozing out of the pancakes is wonderful for the first bite or two, but for me who is diabetic, more than a few bites is just too sweet.

Well, I was rummaging through my pantry last night and I came across some pumpkin pie filling, so I had an idea. If I'm going to please my girls, why not go all out. Instead of normal chocolate chip pancakes, why not pumpkin pie chocolate chip pancakes. So that is the recipe I start my morning with. Here goes:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

adopted from a recipe from the Woolverton Inn, Stockton, NJ

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups flour

Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves to taste

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

8 eggs (separated)

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups pumpkin (1 15oz can)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 stick of melted butter, slightly cooled

A aandful or two of Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

With a hand mixer, whip egg whites until stiff but not dry.

Mix together buttermilk, pumpkin, sugar, vanilla and butter. Make a well in the dry ingredients and fold in buttermilk-pumpkin mixture; do not over mix.

Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Cook on a hot grill until bubbles form at the edges. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips onto the raw batter on the grill. Flip and cook 2 – 3 minutes more.

Cinnamon Sugar Compound Butter

1 lb unsalted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar or Splenda

5 drops Wild Orange Essential oil or orange extract

Whip Butter with Cinnamon, Sugar and a few drops Orange Oil.

Enjoy!

BYU Mint Brownies

I would like to thank my friend Scare (her pen name) for today's recipe. Scare live in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho and writes her own blog, Scareharecare.blogspot.com which often features some great recipes. We are going to make these tonight for our Saturday Family Fun Night Theme. They will be accompanied by grilled burgers hot from the charcoal grill (I have 4 grills for different occassions and/or cooking styles. I know it might be a bit excessive but I justify them as part of my emergency preparedness equipment).

BYU Mint Brownies

Makes enough to fill a 9-12 cake pan

Prep and Cook: 90 Minutes

Cool: 1 Hour

1 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa

2 Tbsp honey

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup. chopped walnuts

12 oz chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

MINT ICING

5 Tbsp margarine

dash of salt

3 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp light corn syrup (or use agave nectar for a lower glycemic index)

2 1/3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp mint extract

1-2 drops green food coloring

1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.

2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Enjoy