Egg Nog Pancakes with Cranberry Maple Syrup

Okay, so the only thing better than starting a day with a stack of these pancakes is starting my day playing with puppies! I'm off to the most incredible German Shepherd ranch to help my Mom pick out her new puppy! I swear, they're the cutest puppies in existence. If they didn't require tons of exercise, and if the Geologist didn't have his heart set on an Irish Wolfhound for our next dog (I know, he's crazy!!) I would so take one of those adorable balls of fluff home with me! I'll take pictures and share them tomorrow, cross my heart! :) Happy Friday!

Egg Nog Pancakes with Cranberry Maple Syrup (adapted slightly from Grandbaby Cakes)
Printable Recipe

Pancakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 Tb sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups eggnog
1/4 cup canola/vegetable oil (you can also use melted butter)

Cranberry Syrup:
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup maple syrup (maple syrup can be kind of expensive, so if you don't have your heart set on a super maple-y flavor, regular old pancake syrup works great too!)
2 Tb butter

Start with your syrup! Combine all the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer for a few minutes until your syrup thickens a bit. I like to smash about half of the cranberries against the sides of the saucepan while it's cooking. Once your syrup is thickened, remove from heat and get started on your pancakes.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Flour, salt, nutmeg, sugar, and baking powder. In a medium bowl or large glass measuring cup whisk together the eggs, eggnog, vanilla, and oil. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir together with a spoon until combined but not perfectly smooth. The batter should still be a bit lumpy, don't over-mix or your pancakes will end up gummy. If your batter is too thick, add a few tablespoons of milk.

Dollop out onto your griddle or skillet in about 1/4 cupfuls of batter. Cook on medium or 350 degree heat until the bubbles around the edges pop and don't immediately fill in. Flip your pancakes and cook until nice and golden on each side. Serve warm with your cranberry syrup!

Anyone else have leftover eggnog sitting in their fridge? No? Just me then. The Geologist gets SO excited every year when eggnog appears on the grocery store shelves, then completely forgets about it once it makes it to our fridge. At least now I've discovered something to do with it before it goes out of date! I must admit the boys and I liked these pancakes better than he did, but he's a pancake purist. Straight up buttermilk all the way. 

The boys and I, on the other hand, are huge fans of these rich, fluffy, lightly spiced eggnogg-y pancakes. They even got multiple requests! Heck, I went out and bought more eggnog just so I could keep making them. They'd make a fabulous Christmas breakfast, which is what they were originally planned for, but The Geologist wanted his buttermilk. What can I say, I like making my husband happy.

And while Joe hates fruity chunks of any kind, so he skipped the syrup, Stephen and I thought the sweet and tangy cranberries were the perfect match to the scrumptious eggnog pancakes. A match made in heaven! And so EASY!!