Pumpkin Pancakes

DRAGON BITES carb-counted recipe

A family-friendly, mostly healthy (sometimes treat-y!) simple recipe for families living well with type 1 diabetes.

This Father's Day, make him pancakes as big as your love for him!

This recipe started as my attempt to make paleo pancakes (with no flour) but they were a total fail… they ended up like pumpkin soup! So I started over, adding flour to the recipe this time. Although that makes them decidedly NOT paleo, my family really enjoyed the result!

This recipe is easy, so kids can get in on the act; it uses canned pumpkin, which is inexpensive, a good source of fibre, and readily available all year round, even under coronavirus isolation. But if all that sounds a little TOO healthy for the dad in your life, then pour on the maple syrup, top with whipped cream, and ENJOY!

Low-Carb? No
Gluten-free? Yes (if you use Gluten-Free flour, as below)
Dairy-free? Yes
Nut-free? Yes

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 20-30 mins
Ready in: 45 mins

Total Yield: 7 jumbo (7-8”) pancakes (or ~12-14 regular size pancakes)

Note that you can halve this recipe if you don’t want that many pancakes! For our family of four, including an 11 and 13 year-old, we needed to double the original (6 regular pancake) recipe for everyone to get enough, but we had 2 large pancakes leftover for a yummy snack later.

Carb Content: 43g of carbs each (22g for regular size)

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 8 eggs1
  • 3 cups canned pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract3
  • 4 tbsp pure maple syrup4
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups (330g) Gluten Free flour5
  • butter or coconut oil (for frying)

Notes:

  1. 8g carbs; 40g fat
  2. 18g carbs; 0g fat for E.D. Smith Pure Pumpkin, canned
  3. 0g carbs; 0g fat
  4. 9g carbs; 0g fat for E.D. Smith Syrup Sweetened with Sucralose
  5. 5. 268g carbs; 0g fat for Robin Hood Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend. You can substitute for regular flour if you like. Adjust carb count accordingly.

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the eggs, canned pumpkin, vanilla extract and maple syrup. The more air whipped in at this stage, the fluffier the pancakes.
  2. Sift in the dry ingredients (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, and flour) and stir to fully incorporate.
  3. Melt ~1 tbsp of butter or coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  4. When skillet is hot, spoon onto it one serving of pancake batter. I use a 1-cup measuring cup for jumbo pancakes. For carb consistency across different pancakes, use a level measure, and scrape the residue from the measuring cup into the skillet. This way the pancakes will be as similar in size as possible. (If you prefer, you can wing it in terms of the size of each pancake, then use the total weight to calculate a carb factor for the batch, which can then be used to calculate the carb content for each pancake individually. Read this for more on carb factors.)
  5. When the edges of the pancake begin to bubble, and a peek underneath shows it to be browning nicely, flip the pancake over to finish cooking. To keep pancakes fluffy, avoid pressing down on the top of the flipped pancake.
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you have used all the batter (about 7 pancakes). After the first 1 or 2 pancakes, I usually turn the heat down to medium-low to avoid burning.

Serve with syrup, whipping cream, and fresh fruit (berries, sliced bananas, sliced peaches… whatever Dad loves!)

CARB & FAT CONTENT:

Total carbs: 303g
Total fat: 40g

Total yield: 7 jumbo pancakes (total finished weight of 1410g)

Carb Content per brownie: 14g
Fat Content per brownie: 8g

Nutrient Content per Pancake: 7 equal pancakes (~200g weight each) contain 43g carbs and 5.7g fat each.

Nutrient Content by Weight: 100g serving of pumpkin pancakes contains 21g of carbs and 3g fat, which means:
Carb Factor = 0.21
Fat Factor = 0.03

What is a Carb Factor? How Do I Use It?

By Cup or By Weight?

Should I Give Insulin to Cover the Fat???

Please don’t rely exclusively on my carb counting! Nutritional information is given for general information only, and will vary depending on the amount, type and brand of ingredients you choose - Please verify your carb and fat content when you make your own version of this recipe.