Five Dollar Friday: Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

Dark chocolate is a passion of mine. And pumpkin is another. I love all things pumkin...except pumpkin pie. It's a texture thing. So it was a happy day when I came across this recipe which combined pumpkin with another love of mine, oatmeal. Yum! This recipe is really wholesome using wheat germ, whole wheat flour, oats, eggs and pumpkin, which is super high in vitamin A. Want to know another great thing about this recipe? It uses buttermilk. I am a huge fan of buttermilk. If you have never used this wonderful ingredient in recipes then get ready for a surprise. Recipes for baked goods that include buttermilk are tender and just amazing. I promise. Almost all my favorite recipes for biscuits, cakes, cornbreads and the like include buttermilk. And yet one more great thing is that you can double the recipe and freeze the leftovers. They reheat beautifully in a skillet with just the tiniest drop of oil. The outside will crisp back up like they just came fresh out of the pan. You will rarely find my freezer without a huge bag of these yummies!

Pumpkin-Oat Pancakes

served with fresh fruit

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg white
1 whole egg

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup lowfat or skim milk

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons wheat germ

1 tablespoon sugar (or to taste)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk. Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes to soften.

2. Add the remaining wet ingredients and blend well.

3. In a small bowl, comine all dry ingredients. Stir them into the wet ingredients, mixing until batter is fairly smooth. Add more milk if batter is too thick.

4. Pour about 3 tablespoons for each pancake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or skillet. Flip pancakes when underside is golden and tops begin to bubble.

5. Serve with butter and real maple syrup

Just a few thoughts about this recipe...depending on how thick you like your pancakes add/take away some of the milk. More milk = thinner pancakes and less milk = thicker. I used quick cook rolled oats because I always seem to have these around that need to get used up. I also like to use more cinnamon and sugar than what's suggested. Haddon's favorite way to eat these is smeared with peanut butter before dumping on the syrup and I have to admit it's pretty darn tasty that way! That kid'll smear anything with peanut butter though. ;) If you don't already, consider switching to real maple syrup. If you are used to the stuff most Americans call syrup it may take a little time to get used to but you won't miss the corn syrup and preservatives for long! I calculated the cost using the pure stuff.

Cost breakdown: $3.09 (leaving $1.91 to buy whatever fresh fruit you want to go along with your pancakes - we love strawberries in the spring when we can go pick our own at a local farm)

$.08 - 1/2 cup quick cook oats

$.25 - 1 cup buttermilk

$.26 - 2 eggs

$.03 - 1 tablespon oil (I used canola)

$.25 - 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (any leftover puree you can freeze if you don't need it right away)

$.05 - milk

$.10 - 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

$.04 - 1/3 cup all purpose flour

$.06 - 2 tablespoons wheat germ

$.02 - 1 tablespoon sugar

$.03 - 1 teaspoon baking powder

$.01 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

$.01 - 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

$.28 - 4 tablespoons butter

$1.62 -1/2 cup pure maple syrup