Pumpkin protein pancakes

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend! We are having amazing weather here in NY and I’m trying to soak it all up before mother nature decides to freeze us to death.

There’s no better feeling than being able to shut of the alarm clock before you go to bed on Friday night and wake up whenever it is that your body decides it’s had enough rest. That was 8:53am yesterday and it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

I took advantage of the lazy morning to try out some of the Peets Coffee that was sent to me as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers Program along with a new take on pumpkin pancakes.

Peets sent two different kinds to try. I went with Café Domingo which promised a “smooth, balanced and medium-bodied blend.” I just wasn’t feeling all that lively and aromatic on a lazy Saturday morning. A new coffee deserves a delicious breakfast to go along with it, no?

After the pumpkin chocolate chip bars from earlier in the week, I had quite a substantial amount of pumpkin leftover so, pancakes it was!

Usually, I end up topping my pancakes with greek yogurt and fruit, mostly for the added protein. I just wasn’t feeling the yogurt topping yesterday so I decided to make the actual pancakes packed with protein instead.

Good decision.

These came out amazing. Fluffy and doughy at the same time. Pumpkin has a tendency to make things “cake-y” but somehow that didn’t happen as much with these as with the oatmeal pumpkin pancakes.

I think the egg white had something to do with it. It bothers me to no end when recipes call for egg whites and not the whole egg. Organic eggs (much like organic milk) cost a small fortune and wasting half of it just irks me. I finally put on my big girl pants though and added an egg white to the batter. I knew it would make the pancakes fluffier and Ginger was quite excited for the yolk in her breakfast. Win-win, I guess.

Besides the taste and texture, check out the nutritional info of these:

I don’t normally post nutritional stats because honestly, I don’t think about them in my every meal. But, I was curious about these since I was trying to replace the protein content I’d normally be getting in the greek yogurt. I think the outcome is pretty stellar. Keep in mind this is for the entire batter, sans toppings. You can see by the pictures, some walnuts, pepitas, butter and maple syrup made it on my plate too.

The coffee went along perfectly with the fall spiced pancakes. It tasted just like the description promised, medium-bodied & smooth. I think next time I’d add some cinnamon or other spice to the grounds before brewing to complement the flavor of the pancakes.

The best part of this breakfast though? Being able to enjoy it out on my deck in the middle of October. I wish we could just keep this weather until April!

Happy Sunday!

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Yield: makes 6 small pancakes

• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons cottage cheese (if you’re not a cottage cheese fan, I bet yogurt would work too)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg white

Directions:

Preheat a pancake griddle or pan to medium heat and grease. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and whisk to combine. Add wet to dry ingredients and mix. Pour batter onto pan, cook approximately 1 1/2 minutes per side, or until fully cooked, flipping once.

What’s your favorite add-in for pancakes?

Tagged as: breakfast, coffee, pancakes, pumpkin