Sunday Mornings and Gingerbread Pancakes

I covet Sunday mornings at home!! For as much as we travel, it is so nice to wake up in my own bed, without an alarm and leisurely go about my morning. Sunday mornings are often times for me to catch up on enjoyable things (basically, anything related to food and cooking). Ryan usually sleeps in, so I put on a large pot of coffee and gather all of my recipes, food magazines, emails and notes from the previous week. And by emails, I mean the many food bloggers that I subscribe to. I read through the emails and flag the recipes I want to try or note ideas for my own blog.

The Golden Recipe

I have become VERY selective on which recipes I save or plan to try since there are so many out there. There are several things that attract me to what I like to call a "golden recipe."

1. Whole ingredients
2. Ryan might like it
3. Something I have not tried before
4. Unique food or ingredient combinations

One such "golden recipe" was Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes on Cookie and Kate! I often file away breakfast recipes, but rarely get around to them. Not this time! 

Ryan's absolute least favorite way to wake up is from an alarm or from my screaming at the bottom of the stairs. I have learned over the years to either very gently wake him up with whispers or just start cooking and let the aroma's fill the house (and his nose). So when Ryan was still asleep this morning and I started getting hungry, I decided to "wake him up!"

The pancakes were amazing! Ryan adores his plain pancakes, so I was taking a big risk with this one, but he loved it too! It was like eating gingerbread for breakfast. The batter is a bit different, it thickens up quickly, so be prepared to cook the batter right away.

Gingerbread Pancakes

Adapted from Cookie and Kate
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (or freshly grated if you have whole nutmeg)

2 T brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup 1% milk

3 T molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 T butter, melted and cooled

Pomegranate seeds (optional)

Maple syrup

Honey cinnamon butter (optional)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1 1/2 tsp honey

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Make the honey cinnamon butter first by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar until combine. Heat a large griddle or skillet to medium low heat. One this is ready, prepare the rest of the batter. In a separate small bowl, whisk the egg, milk, vanilla, molasses and melted butter together. Add the milk mixture into the flour mixture slowly, stirring constantly. 

Melt a pat of butter onto the griddle and pour about 1/3 cup of the batter onto the griddle. The batter will be thick. Once the outside of the pancakes are not shiny*, they should be ready to flip. The bottom should be a darker brown. Serve pancakes right away or store in a warmed oven until ready to serve. 

Garnish with pomegranate seeds or the honey cinnamon butter.

*These are not like normal pancakes where the bubbles come through signifying the cakes are ready to be flipped. Bubbles will not form on these!