We made these for breakfast after Thanksgiving, using vanilla sweet potato puree leftover from the big meal. They have a very light sweet potato flavor, subtle enough that I actually liked them a lot. They also came out almost tender and fluffy enough to rival the famed ricotta praline pancakes, without even whipping the egg whites (it’s something to try sometime, though). I used cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves to sub for the pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. These were well appreciated by Jeremy with some thick local bacon fried up in the cast iron skillet.

Sweet Potato-Pecan Pancakes

1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C chopped pecans, toasted and divided
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 C fat-free milk
1/4 C packed dark brown sugar
1 T vegetable oil
1tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 C sweet potato, pumpkin, or squash puree

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 tablespoons pecans, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt in a large bowl. Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (milk through eggs); add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Stir in sweet potatoes.

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or large nonstick skillet. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Sprinkle pancakes with 2 tablespoons pecans.

Source: Cooking Light, March 2000

Update 8/30/07: I made a batch of pancakes last night using some leftover vanilla-sweet potato puree from a pork tenderloin dinner earlier this week. They were just as good as I remembered. Used up the very last of my pecans, and caramelized half of them for garnish using a chunk of hard caramel leftover from my DB milk chocolate-caramel tart decorations (remelted it, sprinkled on the pecans, and tipped it over onto my Silpat). I ate three, Jeremy had two platefuls, and we still had four left for a lunch or breakfast.