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Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter

You can thank my husband for these pancakes.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter.  They were not in my plans, but apparently they were in my husband’s.

I had some leftover butternut squash cut up from a recipe I had made for dinner one night and I decided to roast the cubes for a future veggie side. I hate to waste food and I find that the closer anything in the refrigerator is to a consumable state, the more likely it is to be eaten.  The squash was in the refrigerator all roasted and ready to heat and eat. I offered them up as a side dish for lunch the next day. My husband said, “I thought you were going to make pancakes or something with them.” I don’t know if that was code for I really don’t want butternut squash as a side with my lunch today, or just the expectation that I will simply whip up something fab from whatever is hanging out in the refrigerator.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

I’d never made or eaten Butternut Squash Pancakes.  I’m not sure it would have occurred to me.  I was in veggie side dish mode, not breakfast mode when I roasted those little squash cubes up.  I have made about 10,000 pumpkin pancakes and I swear 1000 of those were when my family was visiting one week.  I’ve got a big family and believe me when I tell you that one morning I was flipping pancakes for what seemed like days :) #pancakelove  So yeah, I was confident that I could come up with a recipe.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

In any case, I told my husband, “Sure, I can make pancakes with those.” (since you apparently don’t want to just eat them as is.) Ok. I’m slightly exaggerating. He would absolutely eat them as is, and he would eat them first, before whatever else was on his plate, because that’s how he rolls with vegetables. We eat lots of veggies here and we love them, but that doesn’t stop him from getting them out of the way first so he can get on to the stuff he likes better.

So, tada!  I made butternut squash pancakes, Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter.  I used my rock star whole wheat pastry flour that works beautifully in so many recipes, like these Whole Wheat Buttermilk Banana Nut Muffins.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

The pancakes were a hit at my house. They were tender, a little hearty and a little fluffy. I knew they’d work out because butternut squash and pumpkin are pretty interchangeable. Aaaand, I used pumpkin spice because I didn’t want to fuss with a list of spices this time.  So, they were sort of like the 10,000 pumpkin pancakes that I already know my family loves.

I don’t like to send my kids off to school with a high sugar breakfast, so I don’t offer up the option of flooding their plates with delicious maple syrup. You’ll see that in many of my pancake or waffle recipes, like here and here, I create simple toppings that add a little sweetness and flavor, so my healthy breakfast creations still feel like a treat. And, there is already some sugar in the batter, so for me, it doesn’t really need much more sweetness.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

I love flavored butters and this one is as simple as it gets.  Just whip up softened butter with maple syrup and a pinch of salt and spice.  You don’t really need a recipe, but I’ve given you one. You can do this to taste. Add more or less syrup. Don’t forget the salt or you won’t taste the full flavor of the butter or the syrup.

We didn’t eat ours with anything additional, just a light spreading of the butter (not the generous scoop shown in the photo :) (I know, where’s the fun???) and everyone was happy.  But, hey, if you like things really sweet, you can go to town with the maple butter and then pour additional syrup over all.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

The leftover roasted squash that was simply going to make an appearance as a quick side dish instead turned into 2 days worth of breakfast meals that I wouldn’t have to get up early to cook.

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter are tender, hearty yet fluffy, and perfect with a buttery sweet topping.

Now that’s the kind of idea I can support :)

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter

Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter

Yield: 20 pancakes (about 4-5")

Ingredients

For the pancakes:

  • 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour, or all purpose
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup cooked, pureed butternut squash
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable, olive or other oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 1/2 cups buttermilk

For the whipped maple butter:

  • 1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

  1. Preheat griddle to medium. I heat mine to 340 degrees F. If using a frying pan, you can wait until your batter is mixed up before preheating.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spice.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, squash, eggs and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. Add the vanilla and buttermilk and whisk again until combined.
  4. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the buttermilk mixture into the center. Stir until combined.
  5. Allow batter to rest for 5-10 minutes.
  6. Drop batter by 1/4 cup scoopfuls onto preheated griddle or preheated pan sprayed with cooking spray. This is a slightly thicker batter so I usually tap the back of my scoop on the mound of batter to help it spread further on the griddle. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until sides are set and you're beginning to see bubbles and the bottom is golden. Flip and finish cooking the other side.
  7. While you're cooking the pancakes (or before, if you prefer) make the butter. Using a fork, or an electric mixer, whip up the butter, maple syrup, salt and spices. Add more syrup or salt to taste. Serve with hot pancakes.

Notes

*I like to make a large batch of pancakes that will last more than one meal. I store them in the refrigerator, covered, up to three days, then reheat them in the microwave. Or, I'll layer pieces of wax paper in between them and put them in a gallon sized freezer bag to freeze. Later, they can be easily separated and reheated in the microwave. If you prefer a smaller batch, simply divide the recipe in two.

*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you could substitute cinnamon. Or, you could use this mixture of spices...1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg. (I use freshly grated nutmeg.)

*You can sub pureed pumpkin for the squash and make pumpkin pancakes instead.

The Merchant Baker Copyright © 2015

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Secretly Healthy Breakfasts - Health Alliance Blog - Helping You Be Your Best

Tuesday 6th of September 2016

[…] Whole Wheat Butternut Squash Pancakes with Whipped Maple Butter […]

JCpl

Thursday 8th of October 2015

Love!

Jennifer C

Wednesday 30th of September 2015

Oh my gosh! This recipe will be made in the not too distant future!!!!

Ramona

Wednesday 30th of September 2015

I think you're going to like them :) I'm sure you guys will put your own special twist on them!

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