Pumpkin pancakes with ginger butter make a great breakfast, especially in the fall. Make the ginger butter ahead of time so the flavors have time to blend. Use a small scoop (#70) or melon baller for the right amount of ginger butter on your pancakes.
pumpkin isn’t just for Thanksgiving
Canned pumpkin can be difficult to find in the grocery stores any time other than fall and Thanksgiving. We stock up on canned pumpkin and keep it in the pantry so we can serve pumpkin pancakes well into the next year. Don’t forget about pumpkin bread, muffins and even pumpkin ice cream.
fresh pumpkin or canned?
In farm country, some people like to use fresh pumpkin. I’ve tried it but found it was a lot of work. The fresh pumpkin has to be seeded, cut up, cooked, mashed and strained. It’s also important to use cooking pumpkins (“sugar pumpkins”) and not jack-o-lantern pumpkins. Those are grown for carving Halloween pumpkins. They tend to be large and fibrous without much flavor.
the best way to mince crystallized ginger
Crystallized ginger needs to be finely chopped until it is mostly a paste. I tried mincing it using an electric hand-held coffee grinder, but it gummed up the blade. A food processor is too large and doesn’t work. The best way is still on a cutting board with a chef’s knife. The cut pieces stick to the knife, so you can either spray the knife with Pam vegetable oil spray or periodically sprinkle the cut ginger with a little sugar.
Put the ginger paste into a small bowl, add the butter and mix some more. Mash it together with a fork to make sure it is well mixed. This is better made ahead to blend the flavors. Serve the ginger butter softened (take out ahead of time and serve at room temperature) so it melts easily on the pancakes. I use a very small (#70) portion scoop (like a melon-baller scoop) for the ginger butter.
