so simple that I was clueless…

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I love pumpkin pancakes. I love them so much in fact that when Trader Joe’s released a Pumpkin Pancake mix last fall, I stocked up on the stuff and held on to it like a precious commodity. Mr. M gave me a quizzical look when he found a few extra boxes hiding in the upper cabinet a few weeks back… as if to question my squirrel-like habits as autumn, and subsequently pumpkin pancake mix season, was approaching yet again.
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That makes today’s discovery from a PR briefing email that I received that much more astounding. IHOP emailed me to not only let me know that pumpkin pancakes would be returning to their restaurants in October, but to include tips on how to make these elusive pancakes at home. (If you know me well, you can certainly picture me holding my breath as a I whisked through the contents of the email for the secrets it held.) When I read the secret, I was dumbfounded. It was so simple that it never even occurred to me… despite the countless batches of pumpkin pancakes I’d consumed in my life. It said simply:
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The batter: Start with your favorite pancake batter recipe and simply add canned pumpkin pie mix.
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Seriously? That’s it? That’s all I need to make pumpkin pancakes?
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[Head thud on desk]
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At least the email shared another great tip that I felt was useful and not well known: “When preparing dry pancake mix, it is essential that the water is chilled to less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use ice to bring the temperature of the water down.” It made me feel a little bit better and not completely a creative pancake failure… but the answer was so obvious that it still makes me blush at my ignorance. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it had fallen during the same week as my discovery of how to make brown sugar. Hmm….
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