Lindsay House - A Manawa, Wisconsin Bed and Breakfast

Let’s talk about comfort food for a moment. For my friend Pat whom I have mentioned before in this blog, she is originally from Arizona and her comfort food is tacos. I can always tell that Pat is having one of those days, if she tells me tacos are anywhere on her radar for the day.  For me, the terms comfort food evokes an image of a stack of pancakes, with butter melting and syrup in a glistening shallow pool on the plate. Taking the first bite of a plate of pancakes has to be one of the best things to happen in a day. Resting your fork atop the pancake stack and willing the fork to push thru all that fluffy goodness, only to draw that forkful with butter and syrup to your mouth for the first comforting bite.  Well as if you haven’t guessed by now, I served a Ginger Spice Pancake with pecan maple syrup for breakfast on Sunday, and let me just say they were wonderful. My daughter Morgan chose to have them in a sandwich form with cream cheese in the middle, sort of a pancakes to go type of thing. Here is my recipe to share. When you make these either for just yourself or for the ones you love, enjoy them and know that it might be the most comforting thing you do for yourself all day.

Ginger Spice Pancakes

3/4 cup water

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon chopped crystallized ginger ( I used a little more than that…I love ginger)

1 1/2 cups maple syrup

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Beat water, buttermilk, and eggs together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl combine brown sugar, butter, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients stirring until just combined, do not over-mix. Use either non stick spray or butter to ensure pancakes will not stick to griddle. Place approximately a 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until edges are dry, than flip them and cook other side. You may keep pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven, place a damp towel over pancakes to keep moist. Put 1/2 cup chopped pecans into a dry pan to toast on top of the stove, when nuts are toasted, add syrup.  Serve & enjoy.