Oatmeal Pancakes

Our favorite breakfast restaurant, Morning Glory, is about one mile from our house.  It is with baited breath that I await the release of the cookbook rumored to soon exist.  Imagine my elation when I discovered a sneak preview of one of the cookbook's recipes: Oatmeal Pancakes with Walnut Butter!  It has become a Saturday morning staple in the Zundel house.  For starters, I love breakfast, and am pretty sure it's my favorite meal of the day (though dessert makes a strong case).  Second, I love pancakes, but sometimes feel a little bad about just eating fluffy flour.  Considering these two things, it is no wonder that I've completely fallen in love with these oatmeal pancakes.  I mean, it's basically like eating a bowl of oatmeal, right?

Morning Glory's Oatmeal Pancakes with Walnut Butter

Pancake Ingredients:
2 1/2 c buttermilk
2 c old-fashioned oatmeal
2 eggs
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour
2 T granulated sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder

Walnut Butter Ingredients:
1/2 c butter
2 t granulated sugar
1T firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c toasted walnuts

To make walnut butter: 
The night before, combine the butter, sugars, and walnuts (I used my food processor).  Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to combine.  Any leftover walnut butter may be frozen.

To make pancakes: 
Combine the oatmeal and buttermilk in a medium bowl.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

While griddle is preheating to medium, add eggs and butter to oatmeal mixture and stir to combine.  In a separate bowl (though I never do this...shhhh), combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Stir the sugars into the flour mixture.  Add to the oatmeal mixture and mix to combine, but do not overmix.  Make sure griddle is not too hot as it takes time for the oatmeal to cook.*  Lightly spray the griddle with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until golden brown on the bottom.  Turn pancakes and cook until done.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Serve with walnut butter, maple syrup (none of the fake stuff, people), and inhale.  Well, try not to inhale, but rather, savor and enjoy...but you'll most likely inhale.

*As I shared with one of my food-loving-friends you have to wield your spatula like you mean it, when it comes to flipping these bad boys.  Because these pancakes are primarily oats they cook differently than your normal flour-based kind.  Just be ready and willing to leave your pansy-ass pancake flipping tendencies behind.