DH finally made it home yesterday morning before the Nor'easter on steroids got really cranked up in New England. He'd been in New Orleans for the week & was scheduled to return Friday night; but his flight went through Tampa & the very nasty weather there kept him grounded in NO so long he missed his connecting flight to T.F. Green (Providence). So, he had to find a hotel in Tampa Friday night. When he got home yesterday, he was very cranky, tired, & said he hadn't had a meal in 30 hours except a bagel at the airport. He wanted breakfast for dinner last night.

I'd posted my recipe for Indian Pudding on Teresa's 'Meals For Seniors' thread & it gave me a craving. So, I decided to create Indian 'Pudding' Pancakes. They were excellent so thought I'd share what I did.

I'm just going to write what I did rather than try to put it in recipe format...

INDIAN 'PUDDING' PANCAKES

1.) In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup very warm water. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon yeast & a pinch of sugar over the top of the water & give a quick whisk. Set aside to get bubbly while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

2.) In a medium-sized bowl, add 1 cup boiling water to 1/2 cup yellow stone-ground cornmeal. Whisk hard to blend & set aside to allow the cornmeal to soak up the water.

3.) In another medium bowl, beat two eggs until light & fluffy. Add 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree, 2 Tablespoons Canola oil (or similar), 1 Tablespoon molasses, & I used about a 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's 'Apple Pie' spice but a bit of freshly ground nutmeg & cinnamon would work just as well. Stir the pumpkin, oil, & spices into the beaten eggs.

4.) In a medium bowl, add 1 cup AP flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, dash of salt, &

1 Tablespoon sugar. Blend well.

5.) In a bowl large enough to hold the final batter plus some extra room for rising...add the yeast/water; the cornmeal; the eggs/pumpkin/molasses/oil/spice mixture; & whisk hard to incorporate all of the ingredients.

6.) Alternately add the flour mixture & 1 Cup of Buttermilk to the above. Once the dry ingredients & milk are incorporated...give the batter a quick brisk stir but do not overbeat.

7.) Set the batter aside, uncovered, for about 30 minutes giving the yeast a chance to raise the batter a bit. Do not stir during this rest period.

8.) Cook the pancakes on a lightly buttered griddle. Be careful as you scoop batter not to deflate.

The pancakes are very light & airy with just a hint of pumpkin & spices. The yeast was enough to really lighten the cornmeal.

While I was making the pancakes, I put some pure maple syrup & some butter in a saucepan allowing it to simmer long enough to melt the butter & sightly thicken.

I served with grilled ham steak & garnished with fresh orange slices.

DH was back to his normal happy self & the house smelled like Indian Pudding!

/tricia