This week’s featured chef – Ben Starr!! Ben’s Pumpkin Gingerbread Pancakes :) Yummy!

Tonight my husband and I watched on Hulu as my featured Chef left the MasterChef kitchen.  I was so sad to see him leaving, taking that joyous charisma with him.  We are sad to see you go Ben.  We will miss you!  Best of luck in ALL of your future ventures!

This got me thinking.  Unfortunately when I started featuring Ben this week, he was dismissed from MasterChef.  No I don’t really think that I am a curse to the cooking genius of Ben, but just in case…I think that I will be featuring Christian next week 🙂

That is if I feature a chef next week.  No one has left any feedback regarding this feature.  I no one tells me that they like this feature and want it to stay, I will be discontinuing the featured chef segment.

Anyways, today I am going to share with you Ben Starr’s Pumpkin Gingerbread Pancakes.  These sound totally sinful!!

Enjoy!

http://benstarr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31:pumpkin-gingerbread-pancakes&catid=13:breakfast&Itemid=34

Pumpkin Gingerbread Pancakes Pumpkin is my favorite ingredient.  In the autumn, you’d be hard pressed to find me making a dish that doesn’t include pumpkin, and I’m legendary for finding ways to use it in almost every dish.These pancakes have been served every morning after my annual fall dinner party for years.  They’re always a hit.     2 cups flour     1 ½ teaspoons baking powder     1 Tablespoon ground ginger     1 teaspoon cinnamon     ½ teaspoon baking soda     ½ teaspoon ground cloves ½ teaspoon ground cardamom  (Trust me on this one…)     ½ teaspoon salt Combine these in a large bowl and stir with your fingers until they’re well mixed.  In a separate bowl, add:     1 ¼ cups buttermilk  (Substitute regular milk whisked with 1 Tablespoon vinegar if you don’t have buttermilk.)     ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar     2 Tablespoons molasses     ¾ cup canned pumpkin     3 large eggs     2 Tablespoons melted butter Whisk the liquids together until well mixed.  Then add them to the dry ingredients and carefully fold together until all the flour is moistened but still a bit lumpy. This is a photo of normal pancake batter. Batter for this recipe is much darker. This is a very thick batter, and if you want, you can add a little extra milk to achieve a more pour-able consistency. Test it on your griddle to see if it sticks.  Mine works fine without the need for extra fat, but you can spray some canola oil on the griddle if you need to. Drop about 1/3 cup of pancake batter onto the griddle. Watch the pancake carefully.  It is ready to flip when the edges look dry, and bubbles which rise to the surface near the edge burst and do not close back up. With a turner, gently but quickly slide it under the pancake, lift it gently up and flip it over.  You may ruin a few pancakes on your first try, but you’ll get the hang of it. Serve these only with maple syrup.  Anything else will interfere with the amazing, spicy flavor.