A Pumpkin Failure

The first place I ever tried pumpkin pancakes was at our favorite breakfast place in Chicago…the Bongo Room. Ever since we had these I have wanted to try making them. Being as that I needed an idea for dinner tonight I decided I would try making chocolate chip, pumpkin pancakes with a vanilla crème anglaise sauce on top. Here goes…

I had several of the ingredients already and only needed to pick up a few items at the store on my way home. I began by making the anglaise sauce because I wanted it to chill and thicken before serving it. After the anglaise was made (it was quick) and was placed in a bowl to chill, I started some homemade hash browns by grating my own potatoes and tossing them into a skillet with garlic power, salt, and pepper. While the hash browns cooked I made the pumpkin pancakes complete with mini chocolate chips based on a recipe I had found online. (It got great reviews!)

The results…

• The vanilla crème anglaise sauce actually turned out pretty well though I would say I let it thicken in the sauce pan a little too much. Next time I will take it off the burner sooner and let it chill. We ended up liking the pancakes best with maple syrup anyway.
• The hash browns completely clumped together causing some to burn and others to not cook at all.
• The pumpkin pancakes tasted great but they looked terrible. (Sadly, and obviously the picture above is not our actual pancakes). The batter was too thick causing the pancakes to burn on the outside and stay runny on the inside. I do not have an official griddle so I was using our skillet pan. It is not easy to maintain even heat for the pancakes to cook.

So, all this to say, I will be working to perfect the art of making pumpkin pancakes. I am hoping to make them for guests over Christmas, so stay tuned for the final results and perhaps a great recipe complete with cooking instructions.