Breakfast is the best meal of the day as far as I am concerned.  For a sweet toothed baker like myself it is an excuse to rightfully eat dessert as a meal. Pumpkin pancakes are no exception.

These fluffy pancakes are packed with the good for you vitamins that pumpkins are famous for, but taste like soft and tender tiny spice cakes lightly sweetened with brown sugar and perked up with nutmeg and cinnamon.  I even teamed it up with a creamy maple cream cheese topping (breakfast talk for FROSTING!).  Doesn’t that spell dessert for breakfast to you?

These pumpkin pancakes are totally memorable if you want to wow the socks of some guests coming for brunch.  Although barefoot brunch goers might be a bit uncouth, unless you live in L.A. like I do where flip flops are haute couture.

If you are a long time blog reader of mine (all five months!), you are well aware of my love affair with pumpkins, but lately—lucky me—I have some new followers so you noobs are blissfully ignorant.  Well, if you love pumpkins, you have come to the right place, and if you are not so enthused, then go ahead and search for chocolate on this blog, and you won’t be disappointed.

I hope you take this pumpkin pancake recipe as an excuse to invite some friends over for Sunday Brunch and enjoy eating dessert as your first and most important meal of the day!

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
2 1/4  teaspoons  baking powder
1 t. cinnamon OR substitute 1 1/2 t. of pumpkin pie spice for all spices
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup + 1 T. milk
1/4  cup  packed dark brown sugar
2  T  vegetable oil
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
2  large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c. fresh or canned cooked pumpkin
optional: 1/2 c. Nice dark chocolate chips (they are dreamy in these) and or
1/2 c. toasted pecans or walnuts sprinkled in pancakes and on top.

Maple Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce
4 0z cream cheese
1/4 c. butter softened
2 T. real maple syrup
1/2 c. SIFTED powdered sugar
1 T. milk if you need to thin it out

For the pancakes:  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour through salt).

Now is the time to grease your pan so it gets nice and hot.  Put a pat of butter and tablespoon of canola oil on your frying pan or griddle.  Turn your stove onto medium.  Use a paper towel to move around the butter and oil so it greases the whole pan.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine milks, brown sugar, canola oil, vanilla and eggs.  Beat together so it is well combined.  Now add 1/2 of the mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk gently.  Then add the rest and whisk until just combined.  If your batter is too thick to drop onto griddle, then add just 1 more tablespoon of milk.  Over mixing your pancake batter will make it tough.  A few lumps in your batter is ok but ingredients should be combined.

To test your griddle for readiness…drop a little water onto the pan.  If it sizzles, you are ready to go. Make sure your stove is set to a medium temperature.  Too high and they’ll burn…too low and they won’t cook through.

Ladle pancake batter on to pan.  Flip pancake only when you see a few bubbles on the uncooked side, or use your spatula to take a little peak at the cooked side.  You want them to be a nice golden brown. You may want to cook half of the batter as is and then add 1/4 c. of chocolate chips and a 1/4 c. of toasted pecans for the last half.

Maple Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce: In a mixing bowl of  a stand mixer or use hand beaters, beat together cream cheese, butter, maple syrup and sifted powdered sugar.  Beat on medium to high so that it is smooth and creamy.  Add a tablespoon of milk if you need to thin it out.  Serve it on the side, sprinkled with a pinch of nutmeg and chopped toasted pecans on top for garnish.