Pumpkin Apple Spice Pancakes

Pancakes that are gluten-free are really better than wheat-filled. Or maybe I've just forgotten what they tasted like. When first starting the gluten-free diet, I struggled to produce a pancake that was edible. For Christmas that year, the boys proudly presented me with a griddle. I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that I would never fulfill their hearts desire. I knew I couldn't give up. They were counting on me.

Well, the first pancakes sat on the griddle forever and never got done. Sadly, they had to be thrown away and there was nothing for dinner. That night I learned an important lesson that I should never start experimenting when it's time to eat!

Years have gone by and things have gotten better in the pancake department. I found a brown rice baking mix by Fearn that made great pancakes, but then last year my son developed an allergy to rice. Back to the beginning we went.

Thankfully, I found Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix is rice-free. I have added some additional ingredients to moisten them a bit. I guess I'll always be looking for better ways to make pancakes. And that's alright. It makes happy faces and tummies at our house.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
1 egg
1 cup of coconut milk or milk of your choice (more or less to desired thickness)
2 Tablespoons oil
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice


Whisk the dry pancake mix and the spices together then add the wet ingredients and stir with a spoon to combine.

These work great when I cook them on my griddle at 375 degrees. I tried to cook them in a stainless steel pan on the stove, but they will need some adjustments to the wet ingredients to cook well. I'll be working on this. But for now, I guess I'll have to keep the griddle a little longer.

These make great wraps for hot dogs instead of buns.

10/19/08 Update:
My non-stick griddle melted and died a few weeks ago. Funny, my intuition told me that I needed to prepare for that moment, but I didn't think it would be this soon!

Now I am making this recipe in a very large stainless steel skillet and find it works well if I heat the skillet the entire time I'm mixing the recipe. To determine if the pan is hot enough, I hold my hand about 1 inch above the pan to be sure I can feel the heat, then I use extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan just before adding my batter. I use a soup ladle to carefully spread the pancake a bit into the pan. The only measurement I tweaked was the pumpkin puree. I use a spoon to "lightly" measure 1/2 cup. So using less than 1/2 cup works best for my skillet.
Before each new batch, I add extra virgin olive oil to the pan. In my first experiment, I tried melting Earth Balance margarine in the pan and it burned so much that I could not use the pan anymore until I soaked it all day and kept scrubbing it. Maybe my pan got too hot, but I'm not ready to try that again.

My favorite kitchen gadget used here is a flexible stainless steel spatula.

Update: August 16, 2010 ~I am very excited that this recipe has been included in the gluten free recipe collection at Bob's Red Mill.