Pumpkin Pancakes with Candied Bacon and Fried Quail legs

Written by Jeff Davis

Prep Time: 1 hour - Cook Time: 30 min

I originally planned on posting a version of this recipe in October, two years ago, then again last year. I just haven't had the time to do so, hence the reason I'm now posting in January. I've made this several different times, each time just a little different. I love a big breakfast and this recipe makes a filling fall meal, with warm spice and lots of sugar! I served these Pumpkin Pancakes with a Maple Bourbon Butter, Spicy Candid Cacon and Fried Quail legs with a Tabasco Honey dipping sauce. You can garnish your pancakes with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries and top the whole thing off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or black walnuts.

A lot of the recipe I've posted recently have been inspired by my little backyard garden and this recipe is no different. I planted a few pumpkin seeds last year, in the hopes of having a few pumpkins we could carve for Halloween. My plants were doing great, the vines were super long, and they looked healthy, but I think the summer heat eventually got to them. I watered them, fertilized them, but the leaves kept wilting in the day heat, eventually turning them yellow and dying out. It wasn't the vines dying out, just the leaves, the leaves would grow back, but this kept repeating, the yellowing, the dying, and the new growth. I thought the plants might make it, even had a few small pumpkins show up. The few pumpkins I had got to about 6 inches around, but then just stopped growing. I thought about roasting my small pumpkins to use in this recipe, but since they didn't fully grow or ripen, I decided not to risk it.

I'd been working on building a weather station to put in my garden, include in the weather station was a webcam, so I could remotely check on my garden and a HD camera to take still photos. I had the camera pointed straight at my small pumpkin patch, it would take a picture every 15 minutes. I was able to use all the photos to make a cool stop motion video of the pumpkins growing though out the year. You can see the plants grow, the leaves wilt in the day and perk up again at night and morning.

Ingredients

Maple Bourbon Butter

8 tbsp Unsalted Butter

1 1/2 tbsp Bourbon

1 tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

Candied Bacon

6-8 Strips of Bacon

1 tbsp Brown Sugar

Cayenne Pepper

Chopped Black Walnuts

Tabasco honey

1 cup(s) Honey

1-2 tbsp Tabasco or other hot sauce

Fried Quail Legs

8-12 Quail Legs

1/4 cup(s) All Purpose flour, for dredging

1/4 tbsp Corn Starch

Buttermilk, for brine

1 tbsp Salt

1 tbsp Freshly ground black pepper

Tabasco or other hot sauce

Cooking Oil

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 3/4 cup(s) All Purpose flour

1/2 cup(s) Corn Meal

15 oz Can of Pumpkin Puree

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 Egg

2 tbsp Butter, or vegetable oil

1 tbsp Sugar

1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon Sugar

2 cup(s) Buttermilk

Vanilla Extract, a dash

Maple Syrup

Powdered Sugar

Berries of your choice

Chopped Walnuts

Instructions

Maple Bourbon Butter

Step #1 Leave butter out and allow to reach room temperature. Add soft butter to small mixing bowl. Add in bourbon, maple syrup, brown sugar and salt. Using a fork mash and combine ingredients
Pour out onto wax paper. Form into a log shape, roll up and put in freezer for an hour to firm up.

Tabasco honey

Step #1 Combine honey and Tabasco sauce in small dish. Briefly heat in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Fried quail legs

Step #1 Brine the quail legs in butter milk by adding legs to zip lock bag and filling with buttermilk, add a few dashes of Tabasco hot sauce. Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Step #2 Place skillet on burner and set to medium high heat. Add enough oil, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch, to fry legs and allow the oil to reach 350 degrees. Prepare dredge by mixing All purpose flour, corn starch, salt and pepper together in a shallow bowl.

Step #3 Remove leg from buttermilk brine and dredge in flour mixture.

Step #4 Drop legs in frying oil. Allow to cook a few minutes, then flip over and cook for a few more minutes

Step #5 Remove to plate lined with paper towels.

Candied Bacon

Step #1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step #2 A trick to get the parchment paper to lay flat, sprinkle the baking sheet with water first.

Step #3 Lay paper so that the natural curve of the paper, from being rolled up, is upside down. Trim off any excess paper. Another tip to get your bacon not to curl while cooking is to place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the bacon then place another baking sheet on top to weigh it down.

Step #4 Place bacon on baking sheet

Step #5 Sprinkle with brown sugar and a little bit cayenne pepper

Step #6 Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping bacon after 10 minutes. Sprinkle other side of bacon with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Pepper and place back in oven.

Step #7 Sprinkle with chopped black walnuts

Pumpkin Pancakes

Step #1 Combine flour, corn meal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt and cinnamon sugar in one bowl.

Step #2 Combine Pumpkin puree, buttermilk, egg and a dash of vanilla extract in another bowl.

Step #3 Combine wet and dry ingredients together.

Step #4 Add oil or butter to skillet or griddle, then set heat to medium heat.

Step #5 When skillet is hot, use a measuring cup to scoop out pancake mixture or pour directly onto hot skillet. I used a 1/3 cup scoop, using a measuring cup ensure a consist size.

Step #6 Cook pancakes in batches, do not crowd the pan.

Step #7 Flip pancakes to cook other side. Do not flip to early, you want the pancakes to be set. Use a thin spatula like a fish spatula to turn and test pancakes before flipping.

Step #8 Garnish pancakes Maple Syrup, Maple Bourbon Butter, berries, nuts and powered sugar.

Recipe Card

Pumpkin Pancakes with Candied Bacon and Fried Quail legs

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 1 hour - Cook Time: 30 min