The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

I’m on my book tour, and I loved doing the Today Show because it proved that, propelled by the energy of Kathie Lee and Hoda, you can actually make an entire brunch in three minutes, which, of course, is a Crabby Cook’s dream. Okay, yes, they do provide help in the form of three chefs and two prop people (none of whom could be persuaded to come back to L.A. to live with me and solve all my kitchen bitchin’), but still, this was speed cooking at it’s finest.

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin pancakes I made on the Today Show, in case you missed it or the speed-of-light cooking style was too fast for you. Don’t worry if you can’t make both of these (along with the Acon-Bay Olls-Ray and Bloody Marys also concocted during my segment) in three minutes. It just means you will never be on national television and are pretty much a loser.

Killer Pumpkin Pancakes

About 16 pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups low-fat or whole milk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the skillet
Maple syrup for serving.

1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, honey, egg and butter. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until all the ingredients are combined.

3. Melt about 1/2 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter into the skillet and cook until the pancakes are bubbly and the edges are dry, about 1 1/2-2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until they are golden brown on the bottom and springy to the touch, about 1 1/2 minutes. Move the pancakes to a platter and keep them warm while you repeat, adding more butter to the skillet as needed until you have used all the batter. (Covered with foil, you can keep the pancakes in a 250º degree oven for about 30 minutes if you have late sleepers.)

4. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Tags: bacon rolls, Bloody Mary, Kaathie Lee and Hoda, pumpkin pancakes, Today Show

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 30th, 2011 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Breakfast, Cool Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.