baking : pancakes : winter squash : wheat, squash, & cornmeal pancakes

Somewhat my own creation, somewhat based on several different squash and basic pancake recipes.

1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C yellow cornmeal
1/4 C wheat germ
1/4 C brown rice flour*
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 TB extremely softened butter or oil or 6 TB ground flaxseed§
1-2 C sweet dumpling squash puree
1/2-1 C fat-free evaporated milk†
1 TB honey or maple syrup or 1-2 TB sugar (brown, maple, or sucanat)
vanilla extract, dash to taste

Heat griddle or skillet to medium heat, using your preferred non-sticking agent (butter, Pam, oil, etc.). These pancakes will brown quickly, and unlike regular ol' cakes, they do not bubble, so it's best to keep the heat relatively lower.
Sift together the dry ingredients (which do not include the flaxseed if chosen as the butter substitute, nor any sugar option) in a bowl and set aside.
In a second bowl, slightly beat egg. Whip in butter and honey. Blend in squash puree, and vanilla. Blend in 1/2 C of the milk.
Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring only as much as it takes to absorb everything. If necessary, add more milk until batter is desired consistency.
Test that the griddle is ready with a drop of batter, which will also give you an idea of how quickly the cakes will brown. Spoon ~1/4 C dollops of batter onto griddle; it does not spread much on its own so you might need to nudge it so as to evenly distribute the cake's thickness. Again, these pancakes will not bubble so keep a close watch on their edges and test frequently if they are cooked enough to be flipped.
A few suggestions for with what to serve 'em: butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, yogurt, fresh fruit, glazed fruit, wet walnuts, preserves, etc.
Makes about 20-24 small pancakes.

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*The two flours, cornmeal, and wheat germ together substitute for 1 C of all-purpose flour; any one (or several) of these ingredient(s) can be switched out for an equivalent measure of it.
§Will cause the pancakes to brown more quickly and the finished product to be more dense. In that case, you might want to add 4 1/2 TB of another or additional liquid, be it more squash puree, milk, orange juice, etc. I would not recommend water as it also has the tendency to render baked goods more coarse. You may also choose to only substitute some of the butter -- general rule of thumb is 3 parts flaxseed to every 1 part of fat replaced plus an increase in liquid by 75% of the amount of flaxseed added.
†Depends upon the amount of squash puree; the more puree there is, the less additional milk one will need. Start with 1/2 C, mix batter, and then add more in 1/4 C increments until batter is desired consistency. I ended up using 3/4 C for 1 C of squash puree, but I came to wish that I had added a full cup so as to make the pancakes slightly more fluffy.

I'd had a wee sweet dumpling squash sitting in my veggie basket for the last month; I was afeared that it was going to go bad before I could use it. I really shouldn't have worried though because that little bugger's skin and flesh was so hard that I considered asking the neighbors if I could borrow their jig saw. I'm still prayerfully thankful that I didn't slice off a finger or knick an artery whilst wrestling with getting the thing halved.

I decided to do the roasting the night before, this being my first experience with this variety of squash. It made my kitchen smell like a confectionary... heady, velvety tones of sweetness, not cloying in the least.

The next morning, Sunday, I threw everything together and first griddled up a small batch of two for testing purposes, lest I keep on plopping and flipping something that was ultimately going to taste disgusting. I doused them with maple syrup (standard for pancake consumption), took a bite, and... UHH.

That, dear readers, is the sound of pleasure.

Make no mistake, however, these are very hearty and that is evident in the taste, but that speaks more to the complexity of the flavors therein. There is a nascent sweetness, the kind that one usually finds in natural granola or twelve-grain bread, most likely due to the cornmeal. The texture is mildly grainy, a good grainy, and at the same time, chewy, evidence of both the honey and brown rice flour's inclusion. They are decidedly not light or fluffy but nor are they dense, tough, or coarse. Merely a different kind of soft.

I had completed a couple more batches when The Roomie emerged, and I promptly ordered her to consume. She started with three. Then she had two more. Then one more. Then another. Then another. And, no, she is not usually a big eater; in fact, she's not much of an eater at all.

Unlike traditional pancakes, these babies will leave you with a pleasantly full feeling sans sugar headache or that balloony engorged discomfort that always follows my Sunday brunch blueberry pancake indulgences.

Yet, for as good as they were, I had hoped for a slightly different outcome: a pancake that practically oozed with squashy love. One factor that prevented such from happening was due to a miscalculation on my part; I banked on having 2 C of squash puree, but the diminutive sweet dumpling barely yielded one. The other reason is a procedural one. Next time, I'll set the squash puree aside until the cakes are spooned onto the griddle, at which time I'll add a little bit of the puree to each cake as it's cooking.

Num num num num num.