Gingerbread Pancakes with Sweet Cider Syrup

I made these pancakes for dinner last night and they quickly bumped to the top of my “recipes to share” list.  Please schedule a breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or snack time to cook up a batch.  You’ll thank me later.

The pancakes are sweetened with molasses and spiced with ginger, cinnamon and allspice.  But it’s the Sweet Cider Syrup that steals the show.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Gingerbread Pancakes:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 3/4 tsp. ginger
• 2 Tbs. molasses
• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, molasses and eggs together.  Add to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon until just combined.  Stir in the melted butter.  The batter will be lumpy.  Cook on a greased griddle or skillet until bubbles appear and then pop and the edges dry a bit.  Flip the pancakes and cook the other side a few minutes.

For the Sweet Cider Syrup:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbs. cornstarch
• dash or two of cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider

Stir the brown sugar, cornstarch and spices together in a small saucepan.  Stir in the apple cider and heat to boiling, stirring frequently.  Turn the heat to low and let it continue to warm until you’re ready to serve it over the pancakes.