Blog steal: Sweet potato pancakes

I’m back with another ‘blog steal’, my mission to make a recipe from someone else’s blog at least once a fortnight. As you can see, the Chewy Amaretti Cookies which I was planning to bake are nowhere to be seen. I got sidetracked by breakfast.

Regular readers will know that I really like pancakes and I really, really like pumpkin. When I saw a chance to marry the two (well, sort of) I jumped at it. These pancakes, which I saw on Under the Highchair, actually come from a baby food recipe website. There’s really nothing babyish about them, though; although they’re made with sweet potato, they’re kind of like pumpkin pie in a pancake.

I wanted to take the recipe further into pumpkin pie territory by swapping in pumpkin for the potato (squash would work, too). My plan was to go to the Canada Shop in Covent Garden and buy a can of the stuff on Friday after work, but sheer laziness prevented it. No matter; even using sweet potato, the combination of spices and brown sugar in the batter was decidedly pumpkin pie-like. Maple syrup poured generously over the top was a delicious match.

You can find more recipes at barbara-luijckx.com

Plain old pancakes are still my favourite so I don’t think I would make these on a regular basis. But if you love your hot cakes and want a change from the usual variety, these are definitely worth a go.

Sweet Potato Pancakes
Adapted from a recipe at Nurture-Baby

Serves 4 to 6

2 cups plain or all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 large sweet potato – baked or steamed, then peeled and pureed (about 1 cup puree)
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp brown sugar

In a large bowl, combine the first six dry ingredients.

In another large bowl, combine the sweet potato, milk, butter, eggs, vanilla and brown sugar. Mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and fold in until just combined. Some lumps are okay; pancake batter should not be mixed until perfectly smooth or you’ll get tough pancakes.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and rub with a little butter to coat. Pour in the batter to make your desired size of pancake and cook until bubbles appear on the top and the edges start to go dull. Flip over and cook a little longer, until both sides of the pancake are golden brown. Serve immediately with maple syrup.