Gingerbread Pancakes with Spiced Syrup
soft gingerbread pancakes flavored with warming spices and brown sugar, drizzled with spiced syrup, and topped with whipped cream
servings: 4-6
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 star anise pod
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter, melted (plus more for cooking)
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- whipped cream, for serving
- crushed gingerbread cookies, for serving
- powdered sugar, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the maple syrup, water, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
- Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the brown sugar until smooth. Then, whisk in the melted butter, milk, and vanilla.
- Pour ¾ of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Add the remaining wet ingredients and gently stir until incorporated. All the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Heat a griddle over medium heat. Add a tablespoon or two of butter at a time and let it melt. Working in batches, use a ¼ cup measurer to ladle the pancake batter into circles on the griddle.
- Cook the pancakes until set on one side and bubbles begin to form, 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes and finish cooking on the other side, another minute or so (adjust the heat to medium-low as needed so they don’t burn).
- Keep the pancakes warm while you finish cooking the rest of the batter. Serve the pancakes with the spiced syrup, fresh whipped cream, crushed gingerbread cookies, and a dusting of powdered sugar over top.