Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

What better start to a rainy Sunday morning than a big plate of hot pancakes? A cool fall morning is the perfect time to further indulge my obsession with pumpkin-flavored foods with a plate of warm pumpkin pancakes and a homemade pumpkin spice latte. The delicious of aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger filled the whole house with comfort and relaxation as these pancakes cooked on the griddle and was the perfect way to ease my way into a lazy Sunday. I froze the extras for a quick and satisfying weekday breakfasts.

The original recipe called for all-purpose flour, but I substituted it completely with whole wheat pastry flour. Whole wheat flour has a much more interesting flavor than white and the light texture of pastry flour is perfect for pancakes. I nearly always prefer whole wheat or other whole grain flours over white flour, but you may want to use all-purpose flour, especially since most people probably don't have whole wheat pastry flour in the pantry.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
adapted from Bon Appetit, via Epicurious
makes 12 pancakes

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla in medium bowl to blend well. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth (batter will be thick). 

2. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 additions. 

3. Brush large nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium heat. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with oil between batches. Serve with syrup.