Four Wonderful Winter Pancakes

As I did a couple of months ago with fall flavors, I recently prepared pancakes with winter flavors. The flavors were Banana Bread, Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread, and Orange Cranberry.

As I noted in the fall, I tend to be a stickler for preparing homemade foods. However, there are times when I need shortcuts to get food on the table for my family. One shortcut I sometimes utilize is pancake mix. These winter pancakes are incredibly easy to prepare thanks to Krusteaz Complete Pancake Mix.

I made all four pancake varieties for a single meal. I labeled each with a letter before my kids and mother-in-law tried and ranked them. I’ve provided their rankings after the recipes.

Wonderful winter pancake recipes

Prepare all the pancakes using the following approach:

1. Heat a pancake griddle or pan to 375°F (medium heat).
2. Place the pancake mix and other ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together.
3. Lightly grease the hot griddle or pan. Pour approximately ¼ cup batter onto the griddle or pan for each pancake. Cook 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Flip each pancake only once, after the top of the pancake bubbles and the bottom is golden brown.
4. Serve with your preferred topping(s). Each recipe yields about a dozen 4-inch pancakes.

Banana bread pancakes

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Hot chocolate pancakes

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup water
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup dehydrated marshmallows

Note: To prevent the marshmallows from melting into the batter, refrain from adding them until right before you cook the pancakes. When you do add them, stir gently, then immediately pour the batter onto the griddle or pan.  

Gingerbread pancakes

• 2 cups pancake mix
• 1 ⅓ cups water
• 1 ½ tablespoons molasses
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Orange cranberry pancakes

• 2 cups pancake mix
• ⅔ cup dried cranberries soaked in ½ cup orange juice
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 2-3 teaspoons orange zest

Note: When combining the ingredients, include both the dried cranberries and the orange juice in which they are soaking.

Notes

My oldest kids love having “taste tests” of various foods. I’m glad I can use this to get them excited about trying new flavors! Granny happened to be here when I made these, so here are three takes on which are the best.  

I thought these flavors were all good, though I wasn’t a huge fan of the banana bread variety. This wasn’t because they had a bad flavor, but because I’m not a huge fan of bananas. My favorite flavor was orange cranberry.   

What flavors of pancakes do you enjoy eating during the winter?