While First We Brunch is part guidebook to the best places to eat in Victoria, but it's also all cookbook, with more than sixty recipes from the Brunch Capital of Canada. As befits this time of year, we're thrilled to feature the book's recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes from The Summit Restaurant. Bon appetit! 

*****

The Summit Restaurant Pumpkin Pancakes

Serves 4

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup finely chopped roasted chestnuts (or any other roasted nut)

1 tsp finely chopped orange zest

2 cups buttermilk

1/3 cup pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

11/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

11/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp pumpkin spice blend (or combine equal amounts of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves)

Vegetable oil, for frying

Maple syrup, for serving

Orange marmalade, for serving

Icing sugar, for serving

This recipe puts me in mind of cool, sunny autumn mornings, but using canned pumpkin purée makes these pancakes easy to whip up any time of year. Orange marmalade goes well with the spicy pumpkin flavour, though an apple compote or a citrusy whipped cream will also work.

Place the 1 cup butter, nuts and orange zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and mix well, until the ingredients are incorporated and the butter is fluffy. Scrape it onto a large piece of waxed paper and roll it into a log, about

1 inch in diameter. Twist the ends of the waxed paper tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until ready to use. Extra butter can be kept wrapped tightly in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, pumpkin purée, melted butter, vanilla and egg. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and pumpkin spice. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in four additions, folding in each addition before adding the next batch. Do not overmix. It’s okay if the mixture is a bit lumpy.

Heat about 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large cast iron pan over medium heat. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the centre of the pan, spreading it out with a ladle to about 4 inches in diameter. Once bubbles start to form at the edges of the pancake, after about 2 minutes, flip the pancake and cook for another 2 minutes, until nicely browned and cooked through. Keep warm in the oven until all the pancakes are cooked.

Remove the nut butter from the fridge and slice it into 1/4-inch discs. Plate the pancakes, top with butter, maple syrup and orange marmalade, and sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve hot.

Recipe and photo courtesy of TouchWood Editions. Recipe by The Summit Restaurant; excerpted from First, We Brunch, by Rebecca Wellman © 2017.