I love cooking with pumpkin. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin muffins are in my fall and winter rotation. Sunday mornings are when we have our “big breakfasts” at my house – pancakes, waffles, or French toast with bacon and/or sausage. It’s infinitely complicated because some people need their bacon practically raw, while others prefer it very, very well done. Mr. MarthaAndMe always has bacon duty and it is a toss up if it will burn – we buy organic uncured bacon which somehow goes from raw to black in the microwave in an instant. Don’t get me started on the sausage either. We have to make two kinds – those frozen little ones and fresh apple maple chicken sausages – to please everyone.

Pancakes aren’t always a slamdunk. Plain goes over well, as do my oatmeal pancakes. Mr. MarthaAndMe and I like blueberry pancakes and I adore buckwheat pancakes, but the kids won’t touch them. I would never in a million years eat chocolate chip pancakes but the kids love them. So, you can see that breakfast isn’t a simple task.

This past Sunday I decided to put together some pumpkin pancakes, thinking that everyone would eat them since the kids love anything with pumpkin. Silly me. Dude Martha complained that he liked pumpkin, just not in his pancakes, and would not try them. 3 out of 4 of us did eat it and loved it.

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (from a can)

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ginger

pinch nutmeg

Mix and cook on a griddle or in large pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Try to spread the batter out when you pour it. If the pancakes are very thick, they take much longer to cook through. Makes 10-12 pancakes. Serve with maple syrup.