Pumpkin Pancakes and Homemade Maple Syrup

We have consistently loved this recipe for a couple years now, which means it is now officially a Family Favorite. So filling and so tasty!

My original post:

Every now and then I'll make pancakes for dinner, which delights my kids. The other night, since we had the fresh pumpkin puree I had just made, I revisited last year's pumpkin pancake recipe. It was just as good as we remembered. (The only variations I made were to substitute honey for sugar, and whole wheat flour for white):

Pumpkin Pancakes
Yield: 12-16 pancakes

1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 Tb. honey
1 c. milk
2 eggs, separated
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tb. vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients and spices in bowl.
In second bowl, whisk together, pumpkin puree, egg yolks, milk, and vegetable oil.
Stir wet ingredient into dry ingredients.
Use mixer to beat egg whites until peaks form. Then, fold them into the batter.*
Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto greased griddle/fry pan and cook until golden brown.
Serve with syrup (or honey).

*I recently tried making things easier on myself by not worrying about this step with the egg whites and the pancakes turned out just as good!

Last year we preferred the taste of syrup to honey on these particular pancakes, so this year (wanting to avoid the corn syrup, etc), I made my own syrup, using the (modified) recipe below.

Homemade Maple Syrup
Makes 2 cups

1 c. water
2 c. raw sugar
1 Tb. maple flavored extract*

Bring water and raw sugar to boil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, stir in maple extract; simmer 3 minutes longer.

* If you don't have the maple flavoring, use 1 Tb. vanilla extract and 2 Tb. butter instead.

(Note: I would love to use real maple syrup, which would be even better-tasting and also more nutritious, but its cost, particularly in the western part of the United States, is prohibitive for us.)