Instructions

1. To make the pumpkin purée, pre-heat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Loosely wrap butternut in tinfoil and place on a baking tray. Once oven is hot, roast butternut for 30 minutes, or until flesh is fork tender. Leave to cool until it’s able to be handled, then use a spoon to scoop out the cooked flesh. Measure out 260g/9oz of pumpkin then either purée with a blender or mash with a fork until smooth. Set aside.
2. For the pancakes, sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. In a medium sized bowl, combine wet ingredients with pumpkin purée and whisk until mixed.
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk together until you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
4. To cook the pancakes, heat a frying pan over medium heat. Fold up a sheet of kitchen towel and dip in oil, wipe the oiled towel over the surface of the pan. If using a non-stick pan, you won’t need to oil the pan.
5. Pour about 60ml of the batter in the centre of the pan and tilt the pan in all directions so that the batter spreads out in a neat round. Cook for 3-4 minutes, bubbles will appear on the surface, then flip the pancake and cook for a further 3 minutes. Repeat oiling and continue with the above step until all the batter is used. Keep pancakes warm in a low oven while still cooking pancakes.
6. Serve with roughly chopped toasted pecan nuts and warm maple syrup. Pumpkin purée can be made the night before and kept in the fridge. Reserve any extra purée for more batches of pancakes, it can be frozen.
7. TIP: Don’t be tempted to cook the pancakes quickly and on high heat as they won’t cook through properly because they are quite thick. Because they cook slowly, you could easily cook two or more pancakes at a time in separate pans.