Hey, this week marks the beginning of pumpkin-everything season. We love this recipe for pumpkin pancakes, which make for a cozy, cold-morning breakfast treat.
What’s great about pancakes is that as long as you’re willing to spend some time frying and flipping, they are a relatively simple outdoor breakfast as you can make the dry mix ahead of time at home. This time of year when Pumpkin Absolutely Everything is in season, it’s easy to throw a container of pumpkin puree in your bag and mix it into your pancakes. You’re basically making yourself a rendition of pumpkin pie for breakfast.
I personally like to add raisins and walnuts (or whatever is in your trail mix bag) to these pancakes, as it gives them an additional pop of sweetness as well as some added texture. It’s also a way to pretend that I ate something more than just starch for breakfast. But I know that some people out there are morally opposed to extra ingredients in fluffy pancakes, and if you’re one of those purists, leave them out.
You want to be sure you’re packing plenty of maple syrup to drown these in, because let’s be honest, nobody’s kidding themselves about health benefits when they eat pancakes for breakfast. Besides, if you want this to taste even more like pumpkin pie, you’ll want to top it with a little sweetener. Honey will work too.
Made too many pancakes? Pack them in a bag or container and snack on them as a trail treat in a few hours.
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
1 to 1 1/4 cups water
Oil to fry
Optional:
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts
Directions
At home: Mix together the dry ingredients (including raisins and walnuts) and store in a sealable container or bag.
At camp: In a large bowl or food canister, add the dry ingredients followed by the pumpkin puree. Add a cup of water and stir together until well-blended. If the batter is too thick and chunky, add a little more water until it’s smooth, but not runny.
Add a little oil to a frying pan and place over medium heat. Place a few spoonfuls of batter in the pan. Cook until the sides of the pancake look dry and bubbles appear in the middle, about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the size of pancakes you are cooking. Flip and cook on the other side for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
While back-country skiing, I recall cooking pancakes ONCE in a hut. For a group of 12. Way too slow, even if you cook up 36, and put them on hold, in the oven. As people eat, you are still cooking. Even when some have exited to put on their skins. You’re still cooking while some head to the outhouse. You and your souse chef can eventually catch up with the group after you’ve cleaned up the dishes. In those situations, I never cooked p-cakes again.
On the other hand, I worked as a cook and guide at a back-county hut. Guides rotated cooking duties, and handled cabin chores (hauling water, chopping wood, oiling lamps).
During my cooking days, I’d sometimes fry up MANY apple-ricotta cakes, served with maple syrup and butter. Those were a hit. And it was OK by me, because I had no need to hurry out to break trail.
Lol! Pancakes for 12 would be crazy! Unless everyone is using their own cookset it would be awful. My backpacking group is only 2- me and my 4 year old. The pancakes are practically vital for us. ❤️
Yes, yes. Perfect ! Especially when getting a kid involved with back-country adventures.