So good it made me giggle

I’ve watched a lot of episodes of America’s Test Kitchen.  The host, Christopher Kimball, is a bit of an odd duck.  He wears bow ties and little round wire-rimmed glasses.  He is recognizably a northeasterner to the bone.  Most episodes he introduces the topic (recipe) of the day and proceeds to “host” with the chef of the day.  When it comes time to do the taste test, he does the obligatory “Mm, this is really good” sounds and tosses out a few descriptive phrases to let us know how it tastes.

Every once in a while, though, you can tell by his reaction that they got it right on.  He’ll start to taste in the usual way.  But suddenly he starts to giggle.  That’s when you know they have come up with something extra special.  He’ll even admit (on screen) that when it’s REALLY great he just can’t help himself.  He starts to giggle because it just tastes so good.

 

That’s kind of the same reaction I got the first time I made these Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey-Pecan Butter.  To be honest, I made the pancakes a couple of times and they were good.  But I had never taken the time to make the honey-pecan butter until our church’s Christmas Brunch.  We brought the pancake batter already made and the honey-pecan butter still very hot from the stove.  We made pancakes on a griddle – to order.  My husband was the griddle master and I trotted a plate piled high with pancakes and saucepan full of warm honey-pecan butter from table to table.

 

People would politely take a small pancake and often opted to skip the honey-pecan butter.  I urged them to try some, if even just a little bit.  As I turned to the next table, that’s when the giggling started – behind me.   I’d get about two tables away and someone would call me back to get “just a smidge more” of the honey-pecan butter.  Oh, and "maybe another pancake or two".  It happened over and over again as I wandered about the room peddling pancakes.  By the time I got back to the griddle to restock, there was lineup of folks waiting for more pancakes to come off the heat.  They never even got onto my serving plate.  We couldn’t keep up and eventually we ran out of batter and butter.  Had to turn people away.

 

Thankfully, I had stashed two tiny pancakes and tablespoonful of honey-pecan butter for us.  We sat down exhausted from the rush and did our very own little taste test.  Yup…you got it!  They were so good we started giggling.

 

Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey-Pecan Butter

 

INGREDIENTS

 

Pancakes:

1	cup flour
1	T sugar
2	t baking soda
	dash salt
¾	t cinnamon
2	T vegetable oil
1	egg
1	cup milk
½	cup canned pumpkin puree
½	cup sour cream

 

Honey-Pecan Butter:

½	cup pecans
½	cup butter. softened
¼	cup honey

 

Directions

1. For the pancakes, combine all ingredients.  Batter will be lumpy.  Fry pancakes on griddle.

2. For the honey-pecan butter, spread pecans on baking sheet and toast in 350° oven for 8 minutes.  Chop nuts in food processor or blender.  Beat butter and honey together until smooth.  Heat to warm butter mixture.  Add pecans.

3. Serve pancakes with honey-pecan butter drizzled on top.