Thanksgiving Leftover Pumpkin Cranberry Buttermilk Pancakes

this post is sponsored by coombs family farms. thank you for supporting the partnerships that allow brewing happiness to grow and exist. xoxo.

I’m not much of a turkey person when it comes to Thanksgiving. Mostly because everything else on the plate is SO FREAKING DELICIOUS. I mean… sweet potato casserole? Yes please. Dinner rolls? Absolutely. Roasted veggies and seasonal salads? Count me in. This isn’t even starting to mention desserts like pecan pie. Those are all of the things I want to have on my plate and also what I want to have leftovers of.

So I’m not here to teach you how to make a leftover sandwich with your turkey and dinner rolls. I’m here to talk about something SO MUCH BETTER. It’s basically Thanksgiving brunch.

I’ve taken your leftover canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce, and oranges and turned them into the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes ever. Obviously these pancakes are perfect for the day after your Thanksgiving festivities, but you can also make them all holiday season long if you just grab a can of cranberry sauce (or better yet, make your own!)

If you for some crazy reason don’t already have a go-to cranberry sauce recipe, here’s mine…

• 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• 3/4 cup Coombs Family Farms Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 orange, zested

Then you simply add everything into a pot on the stove and simmer over medium heat until all the berries have popped and the sauce is nice and thick, sort of like a jam. Take it off of the heat and store in your fridge until serving. (You’re welcome.)

The other VERY important component to these pancakes is the Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream. It’s SPRAYABLE maple syrup. That means you get the perfect amount of syrup exactly where you want it. Why has no one thought of this before? Seriously, I’m the biggest fan and everyone needs to buy this product ASAP.

Okay that’s all. Enjoy your holiday. Enjoy your pancakes. Enjoy your family or friends. xo.

More recipes for your leftover canned pumpkin : Pumpkin Chia Olive Oil Cake + 5 Minute Pumpkin Microwave Muffin + Maple Pumpkin Challah + Healthy Seedy Pumpkin Bark + Savory Pumpkin Grits Breakfast Bowl

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Thanksgiving Leftover Pumpkin Cranberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Don't throw away all of that extra canned pumpkin and cranberry sauce! Use them to make these Thanksgiving Leftover Pumpkin Cranberry Buttermilk Pancakes.

Course Breakfast, Mornin' Eats

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 8 huge pancakes

Author Brewing Happiness

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour (sub gluten free all purpose flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 orange, zested

Wet Ingredients

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup non dairy milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup cranberry sauce
• cooking oil, to grease pan (I used coconut oil)

Toppings

• Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream Sprayable Maple Syrup
• butter

Instructions

1. In a small bowl whisk together your canned pumpkin and non dairy milk until smooth and combined. Add apple cider vinegar to the bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. (No need to whisk in the ACV.)

2. Next, whisk together your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Create a crevice in the middle of your bowl.  

3. Add eggs, melted butter, and pumpkin buttermilk mixture to the crevice. Use your whisk to whisk the middle and slowly work outward, incorporating more and more flour. Once all of the flour is mixed in, stop whisking. (Don't over mix, clumps are fine.)

4. Use a spoon to add in the cranberry sauce, and gently swirl it into your batter. 

5. Heat a skillet over medium heat with cooking oil. Add about 1/2 cup of batter to the center of the skillet or pan. Use the back of a spoon or the back of the measuring up to smooth the pancake into a large circle. 

6. Cook on each side for about 2-4 minutes. 

7. Transfer your pancakes to a plate, top with butter and (most importantly) Coombs Family Farms Maple Stream Sprayable Maple Syrup!

8. EAT UP.

Recipe Notes

*scroll down for a super simple 20 min cranberry sauce recipe!

I’ve come to realize that Thanksgiving (or really any holiday) traditions are cyclical. If you’re lucky you grow up in a home where each year the same people gather in a similar way, telling similar stories, and eating similar food. And if you’re anything like me you both love and loathe the ceremony of it all. I love the food and getting to see my favorite cousins. But I loathe the sameness of it all. Same people, same food, different year.

Or rather, loathed, I should say.

I disliked the uniformity of it all until the uniformity was destroyed. Grandparents died. Siblings got married. Those married couples have babies. People move. Consequently the traditions have to change.

And now here I am, 26 years old and spending my first Thanksgiving away from my family. Tradition blown to bits. My sister is pregnant and due in December, and I know in my bones that nothing will be the same when my niece, Emmie, comes along.

Yet for Emmie, this is the beginning. Her traditions are just forming. She now gets to experience the extreme sameness of it all, holiday after holiday she’ll see my face. (Hopefully I’m the cool aunt and she’s excited about that fact.) For her the cycle is just beginning.

And eventually I’ll get married, and that part of my life will solidify. I’ll move into a home rather than an apartment and the sameness will return to my holiday structure. I am in the middle of the upheaval.

To me, this is why tradition is beautiful. It cycles, it reinvents itself, yet some core of the original remains. Always the same foods. Maybe that’s why we love Thanksgiving food so much, its the thread that strings us from year to year, house to house. It completes the cycle.

Emmie won’t grow up with my Grandma’s Sweet Potato Soufflé, but she’ll grow up with my version. She’ll have her own kid’s table to sit at. (Hopefully she won’t have to sit there until she’s nearly 18 like I did.) She’ll have her own feeling about the holidays, but I know that some piece of that will the the exact thing I used to feel. Except this time I get to facilitate it for her.

I get to add new traditions like these Thanksgiving Leftover Pumpkin Cranberry Buttermilk Pancakes the morning after Thanksgiving. I get to return to the sameness of it all. Except this time, I’m grateful. xo.

So here’s to leftovers, and new traditions, and family, and friends, and stuffing our faces with food! Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.