Oatmeal Sweet Potato Pancakes

Have you tried sweet potato pancakes yet?  I had not until just a few months ago - but boy are they Yum-O!

Lucky me, I picked up about 16 cans of sweet potatoes right after Christmas.  They were marked down to 25 cents a can, and I figured since they didn't expire until 2014 - why not stock up?  Truthfully, I'm not overly fond of the canned variety because they don't taste very good without all the sugary toppings, but for 25 cents  - I figured I could throw them in some muffins.  That's a lot of great nutrition for pennies.

About the time I was wondering what to do with all the canned sweet potatoes, I took a bite of my husband's sweet potato pancakes at the Cracker Barrel.  That's all it took.  I knew I had to figure out how to make them at home - and with 16 cans in my pantry - Woot! Woot!

I started with a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.  My goal was to create a recipe that tastes more like the Cracker Barrels, but is also a healthy pancake.  Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

1 40 oz. Can Sweet Potatoes*

3 Cups Oat Flour**

2 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. Baking Powder

1  1/2 tsp. Salt

3/4 tsp. Nutmeg

2 tsp. Cinnamon

4 Eggs, beaten

3 Cups Milk

1/4 Cup Canola Oil

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Butter

1 stick Salted Butter, softened not melted

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 or even 3 tsp. Cinnamon (start with 2)

Blend until well combined

Heat an electric skillet to 350 degrees.

This is a large batch and will make about 20 medium sized pancakes.  I matched the ingredients to the amount of potatoes in one can.

Drain, rinse and mash the sweet potatoes.  In a bowl, mix the potatoes with the beaten eggs, milk and oil.  In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.  Pour the sweet potato mixture into the dry ingredients, and fold well.  You never want to mix a pancake batter too much, because that develops the gluten and makes the pancakes tough.  While oats do have gluten, it is a different kind so this is less of a concern with this recipe.  Also, if you let the batter rest for about 30 minutes it will be thicker and nicer to work with. This is not necessary, though.

Lightly grease the hot skillet.  Drop the batter onto the skillet using a 1/4 measuring cup.  Allow to cook until the surface of the pancake is bubbly, then flip.  I've found when cooking with whole grains that I've milled*** with my grain mill, a lower temp of 350 degrees works better than a higher temp usually recommended with pancakes.  

Even though the Brown Sugar Cinnamon is not healthy, the cinnamon is strong enough that you only use a scant amount on top of your pancake.  It really pleases the taste buds  because the spice and sugar are on the pancake instead of mixed into the batter.  Another tip if you use syrup is to pour 1-2 Tablespoons on your plate and slightly dip your bites of pancake.  Syrup has A LOT of calories, so if you're watching them - don't saturate your pancake with syrup. These pancakes are quite moist so you really don't need much syrup anyway, but I know, I know - they taste better that way.......

*If you don't wish to use canned sweet potatoes - freshly cooked or leftover are great.  Just be sure they are soft and mashed.  I would actually prefer to use the fresh, but you can't beat the convenience and price of my canned potatoes.

**Oat Flour can be purchased at the health food store.  Also, some people like to use a soak method and soak the oats in the milk for several hours or overnight in the blender.  When the oats have soaked a while, just blend and add the rest of the ingredients.  You will need 1  1/2 cups of oats (you may need to experiment with that amount) to equal 1 cup of oat flour.  

***I have a grain mill to grind my own flours.  This is a wonderful way to add whole grains to your diet because you are getting the grain in its most nutritious state, plus they taste much better.  My mill cost about $200, but it was well worth it.  You can make flour out of rice, oats, wheat, barley, flax seed - the list is endless.  

This recipe is a big hit at my house and the family cheers every time they find out Sweet Potato Pancakes are on the menu.  Honestly, they are a great way to get your family to eat sweet potatoes and whole grain oats - and if they are all going to cheer about it - you Score Mom!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ellie