Gingerbread Pancakes with Crumb Topping

Wake up to the best breakfast this holiday with these gingerbread pancakes with crumb topping.

Guess what time it is? Blog hop time!! This round the themes were peppermint, eggnog or gingerbread. Since I have recently become obsessed with all things gingerbread, that is where I reside for today. But I wanted to avoid cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc. because I am pretty sure that has already been extensively covered. Now gingerbread as pancakes? You don’t see that every day. While you’re at it serve these with some gingerbread syrup.

These were the thinnest pancakes I have ever made. But their thinness did not take away from their tastiness. And the crumbly topping enhanced the gingerbread flavor perfectly. Sometimes I feel like I actually know what I’m doing in the kitchen instead of just throwing things together that sound good :-P.

One year ago: Perfect Hamburger

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES

Makes approximately 14 pancakes

Ingredients:

PANCAKES

1-1/4 cups whole-wheat flour

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon orange zest (I omitted simply because I didn’t have an orange)

1 large egg

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

2 tsp vanilla extract

5-1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided

Maple syrup, for serving (optional)

CRUMB TOPPING

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp butter, room temperature

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the whole-wheat flour, AP flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and orange zest.
2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl melt 3 tablespoons of the butter.  Let cool a bit then whisk in the milk, egg and vanilla extract.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined (some lumps are fine).  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
3. (Note: If you want to make all of the pancakes before serving, preheat oven to 200 F.  Place a baking sheet lined with foil on the middle rack.) Using the remaining 2-1/2 tablespoons of butter, heat about 1 teaspoon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add 1/4 cup of batter to the pan for each pancake.  Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and they begin to brown just a bit around the edges, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook on the other side for about 2 minutes more.
4. Move the pancakes to the warm oven (if you need to stack the pancakes on the baking sheet, do so between layers of parchment paper).  Wipe the pan with a paper towel, melt another teaspoon of butter and repeat the cooking process.
5. For the topping, in a small bowl mix the brown sugar, flour and butter with a fork until crumbly. Top pancakes with syrup and sprinkle with crumb topping, and serve.

Source: Pancaked from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, originally adapted from Gingerbread. Topping from Mother Thyme.