Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

PERFECT PUMPKIN PANCAKES with EASY BUTTER PECAN SYRUP from author Cleo Coyle



From Cleo Coyle: Fall is now officially here. Whenever I feel that brisk autumn chill in the air, I start craving pancakes, and these Pumpkin Pancakes make a fantastic fall meal. 🍂 Adding pumpkin is a great way to bring extra fiber, nutrition, and flavor to the table. These little cakes are amazing topped with my easy-to-make Warm Butter Pecan Syrup, which is also delicious over ice cream and baked apples. Or try my lighter topping idea for the pancakes, which I've also included in the recipe...

So happy fall, everyone!
Let's get our Pumpkin Pancakes on...




Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery
 series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

 
 A Recipe Note from Cleo...

🍂 As I mentioned above, adding pumpkin to pancakes is a great way to bring extra fiber, nutrition, and flavor to your breakfast table. 

I like to buy a few extra cans of pumpkin puree during the fall shopping discount window, so I can make these pancakes throughout the winter season.

These Pumpkin Pancakes are incredibly good with the Warm Butter Pecan Syrup recipe I'm also sharing. The syrup is quick and easy to make and fantastic on the cakes, as well as ice cream, baked apples, and grilled peaches. 

Or try my lighter topping idea, which I've included below. It's a deliciously different way to finish these warm little cakes and a much lighter option than the syrup.

May you flip with joy!

~ Cleo



To download this recipe as a free
PDF that you can print, save, 
or share, click here...


☕ Cleo Coyle’s
Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes


Makes 8 – 10 pancakes, depending on size

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, melted

4 eggs 
½ cup pureed pumpkin (I use canned)
1-½ cups milk (low fat is fine)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (double if you like spice)
(optional) ½ teaspoon orange zest (grated orange peel)
¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon salt 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 

Directions:

Step 1 - Make batter: Melt butter and set aside to cool a bit. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, pureed pumpkin, milk, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and (optional) orange zest. Add brown sugar, salt, and the melted butter that you set aside. Finally mix in the flour and baking powder. Do not over-mix the batter at this point or your pancakes will be tough instead of tender. You can make the pancakes immediately or cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow batter to sit in the refrigerator (and hydrate) for 30 minutes to an hour (or even overnight). 




Step 2 – Cooking the perfect pancake: 

(a) Pre-heat: Pre-heat a nonstick griddle or skillet. If you have a good quality nonstick griddle or pan (and there is absolutely no residue on the surface), you will see prettier results without using grease. Butter, cooking spray, and oil all produce mottled surfaces on your pancakes. If you do have an older pan or it does not have a nonstick surface, lightly grease with butter, oil, or cooking spray.

(b) Pour: Using a measuring cup, pour ¼ cup of batter onto the pre-heated pan or griddle; immediately pour ¼ cup more right on top of the first pour. The pancake batter should spread into a perfect circle, about five inches in diameter.




(c) Flip and finish: When you see bubbles begin to form on pancake’s top, it’s ready to flip. Cook lightly on the other side and serve with my Warm Butter Pecan Syrup or my Lighter Topping Option, both are below.




Cleo's Warm 
Butter Pecan Syrup





A Final Note from Cleo

Full of buttery sweet caramel flavor, this syrup is delicious served warm over pancakes, but also ice cream as well as baked apples or grilled peaches. Enjoy! 

Cleo Coyle's
Warm Butter Pecan Syrup

Makes 2/3 cup syrup

Ingredients:

½ cup butter (1 stick)
¼ cup half-and-half or heavy cream
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Quick warning: Do not melt butter first in this recipe. If you do, the butter may separate and your syrup will not thicken properly unless you boil it down. Instead, use this method: In a saucepan, over low heat, combine solid butter, half-and-half (or cream), brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Stir immediately and continually. Mixture should not boil. When butter is fully melted, remove from heat, cover and keep warm to serve over pancakes, ice cream, baked apples, or grilled peaches.





Cleo's Lighter Topping Option


Instead of using butter and syrup on your pancakes, try this lighter and easier method...

Squeeze juice from the wedge of an orange over the top of your warm pumpkin pancakes and lightly dust with powdered sugar or a sugar-free powdered sugar substitute like allulose or monkfruit

This is a lighter option than butter and syrup, and it tastes delicious—almost like a carnival funnel cake, one of my favorite treats from childhood. The orange flavor also pairs beautifully with the light pumpkin taste in the pancakes.




Eat (and read) with joy!


CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries, now celebrating more than twenty years in print. With more than 1 million books sold, they have gained an enthusiastic following. Cleo's "relentlessly entertaining" (Criminal Element) novels have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, and Czech; earned starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus; received Best of Year selection honors from multiple reviewers; and have been recommended by Booklist as among the best culinary mysteries for core library mystery collections. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, Toho, and MGM. They live in New York City, where they write independently and together, including the nationally bestselling Haunted Bookshop Mysteries.


Visit Cleo's online coffeehouse here.

Follow Cleo at: Facebook | Twitter | Bluesky 

National Mystery Bestseller 

(Triple) #1 Amazon Category Bestseller 

Fresh Fiction Readers' Selection


To Buy:

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

Bookshop.org

+ More Buy Links




"EASILY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS THAT I HAVE READ THIS YEAR...10 STARS!"  Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book 

 

"A KNOCKOUT STORY....one of the best books in this endearing series...a TERRIFIC READ..." —Dru Ann Love, Raven Award-winning reviewer, Dru's Book Musings






No Roast for the Weary is also a culinary mystery with a killer menu of delicious recipes. Click here or on the image below to see the free illustrated guide to our book's recipe section...

Click here or the image above for
Cleo's Free Illustrated Guide to
the recipes you'll find published in
 No Roast for the Weary.



Get a free Title Checklist of
Cleo Coyle's Books in Order
Click here 
or on the image below.

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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Leek and Lentil Soup #recipe from author @DarylWoodGerber





It’s autumn and I love soup. I love how you can put something together with whatever you have on your shelves or in your refrigerator. Got veggies and leftover chicken? Add some herbs and broth and, ta-da, a meal!

In my recent travels on the Internet, I learned that the word “restaurant” is sort of derived from soup, or rather a bowl of broth.   The French used to sell something like a bowl of broth called a “restorative” in the 1500s.   It was to cure exhaustion.  Then in 1765, someone opened a shop that specialized in bowls of soup, and voila, the word “restaurant” became the place to sit down and eat to get “restored.”

Yep, that’s what soup does for me.  It restores. Even cooking it restores me. I love the aromas, the steam, the tasty sips.

As for this soup that I’m sharing today, I love lentil soup not just because of the flavor but also because of the food value. Raw lentils have 25% protein in them! By the way, lentils have been part of the human diet since Neolithic times. They were one of the first domesticated crops in the Near East.  [Man, I love trivia for “ten” on the Internet.]

So where do your soup recipes come from? Have they been handed down through your family? Or do you remember them from a visit to a special restaurant? 

FYI, I remember a great soup I had in New Orleans that I recreated with Brie and shrimp!   Here’s the link for that soup! Brie Shrimp Soup 

Also perfect for the holidays: Pumpkin Gruyere Soup


Leek and Lentil Soup

Serves 2

2 tablespoons butter
1 leek, white portion only, diced
3 cups chicken broth, more if necessary
1 cup lentils (raw)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoon chives, for garnish



In large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the diced leeks and sauté until they begin to soften, about 3-5 minutes. 



Add the broth and lentils, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, over and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 40 minutes. If necessary, add more broth.



Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chives.



Yes, of course you can add chicken or some other meat to this to make it more stew-like. Feel free to tweak as necessary!  I love it plain and simple.


Savor the mystery!
Daryl Wood Gerber aka Avery Aames
Tasty ~ Zesty ~ Dangerous!

*
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The Wild West Extravaganza has come to Crystal Cove.
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FOR CHEDDAR OR WORSE, the 7th Cheese Shop Mystery is out!
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GIRL ON THE RUN, a stand-alone suspense is out!
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