Happy weekend brunch day! Ok, so you’re probably all going, “dude, it’s Monday!”, and to that I say “congrats for reading the calendar!” Alrighty, so in a much less defensively snark-filled tone, I’ll admit that I’m not so great in the whole same-day posts, plus I figured I’d let that granola bar recipe shine in all its glory on the featured post for an extra day. Delay aside, this weekend’s brunch experiment was a gooder, that’s because it was filled with super fluffy, super yum pancakes. Yes pancakes! I’d almost forgotten how much I loved those fluffy little dough filled UFO lookin’ things.
As you’ve probably noticed, these aren’t your average joe pancakes. That glowing orange hue wasn’t caused by any radioactive materials, nope, these pancakes were blinged out with some sweet potato. Yup. More sweet potato. I told you I was going crazy for it. Fun fact, I had never even heard of a sweet potato until my early twenties, no joke, the first time I bought one I thought it was the strangest thing ever, and I used it to make that weird marshmallow concoction all you Americans seem to adore…needless to say, it was a nice few years before I wanted to try it again, WITHOUT the marshmallows. I’m so glad I did…it only makes sense for me to make up for lost time.
The best way to make these pancakes crazy good, is to top it with apple cranberry compote. It’s pretty much just apples and cranberries cooked in sugar but it’s super yum and beats just using plain ol’ maple syrup. P’s not normally a big sweet potato fan but his response after a couple mouthfuls was “these are goooood.” To that I say, damn straight! If you take a look through the ingredients you may be weirded out by the sparkling water, I highly suggest not skipping this part as it gives the pancakes some extra oomph, hence the super fluffiness. I’ve made them with regular water before, and although they still turn out good, they aren’t quite as fluffy, so try not to skimp on the fancy water. Now go make some, take a bite and let happiness ensue 
Sweet Potato Pancakes
10 to 15 pancakes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sparkling water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Whisk the dry ingredients together until well combined. In a small bowl, mix together the milk, sugar, sweet potato, vanilla and oil, whisk until smooth then pour over the dry ingredients. Pour the sparkling water over the mixture and mix everything together gently until it all just comes together. Do not overmix, little lumps are ok, over mixing will give you tough rubbery pancakes.
Lightly oil a non-stick pan or griddle and preheat to medium-low, when hot pour 1/3 or 1/2 cup scoop of the batter. After 3 to 4 minutes, when they start to bubble on top, flip over and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. You may need to cook them longer due to the thick batter, check underneath before you remove them from the heat.
When finished cooking, place in the preheated oven to keep warm.
Serve warm with apple cranberry compote.
Adapted from Maple Spice
Apple Cranberry Compote
Ingredients:
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1/4 cup apple juice or water
- cinnamon stick
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
In a medium sized frying pan or wide saucepan, mix together apple juice, maple syrup, cornstarch and cinnamon stick. Bring mixture to a simmer, then add the cranberries and apples. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Once cranberries break down and mixture thickens, remove from heat and mix in vanilla. Serve warm over pancakes.
Hi M. Thanks A LOT for this recipe. I buy sweet potatoes because they’re good for my health but I never know what to make with them and I sometimes end up throwing them away. That’s not gonna happen anymore now
Throw away sweet potatoes? That’s blasphemy! Do you just not like the taste of them? There are so many different ways to use them, as you can see, I’m a fan
If you don’t like the sweetness, you could always mash them with half regular potatoes and add a bunch of herbs like thyme, rosemary, onion powder, etc. super tasty!
I know, l I hate to throw away food, especially since I don’t find my money in the trees lol. I used to buy one big potato, and then I used like half and the rest ended up rottening most of the time, so I stopped buying them. I found smaller ones this time, though. The fact is they’re not part of my food culture and I never know what to make with them. To me, they’re too sweet to be used as regular potatoes and I never thought of using them for pancakes before, so thanks again.
I find that the organic ones come in more reasonable sizes. Yeah, I suppose the sweet potato isn’t exactly a common ingredient in Italian cooking
Well I hope these turn out for you so that you finally have a way to use up those tatters.
This. Looks. Amazing! Though I think when I make it, I’ll sub half the flour for oats. Ever since I found out how great oatmeal pancakes are, I feel guilty when I make pancakes WITHOUT oats! I also have some of my grandma’s apple-plum sauce, which I think would taste amazing on top of these. Thanks for the recipe!!
Your welcome! That sounds yummy, I’m going to add oatmeal pancakes to my brunch list. You may have to adjust the liquid a bit if you use oats, I’m not sure who mch liquid they absorb. Apple plum sauce sounds rad, I can’t remember the last time I had plums, I need to rectify that.
Actually, they don’t require any more than usual. I fell in love with them because of this recipe: http://www.colourfulpalate.com/2011/06/22/vegan-banana-oatmeal-pancakes/ I’ve subbed pumpkin puree and applesauce for the banana as well – all scrumptious! I also recently made a zucchini & Brie cheese oat pancake recipe, which was amazing.
My grandma oh so graciously makes no-sugar-added applesauce for me, and add plums to one batch – so good, and it turns a pretty purple color!
These sound so delicious! Have to try….
They seriously are, I hope you do!
We must’ve had a psychic communication with the pancake thing, ha ha.
And yeah, sometimes I really have a hard time posting on Sunday! Sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows) is only awesome if the potatoes don’t have a pound of sugar in them…really, they’re sweet enough, a couple tablespoons of maple does the trick. And with pecans! I love the idea of using sparkling water for pancakes, I’ll try that next time. And that topping is so purdy, and fairly virtuous! 
I just remember it being grossly sweet…and that was before I ate even remotely healthy. We didn’t know If it was supposed to be a dessert or a side dish. A casserole with maple and pecans sounds way better, I love marshmallows, but I just can’t get behind that abomination
The topping was the best part! I’ve been eating the leftovers in my yogurt, seriously hella yummy!
Yes – more brunch pancakes! I’m not the hugest fan of sweet potatoes, but there’s pretty much not that much that do wrong if it’s in a pancake!
Hi Megan, I’ve just made the pancakes and the compote, and I only have a word to say: YUM! Too bad my camera is borken or I’d take a picture.
I have looked up some more of your recipes with sweet potatoes and I’ll try the tofu benedicts sometimes.
Thanks a lot again.
Sweet! Glad you found a sweet potato recipe you like. Thanks for trying it out!
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