We’ve been working on trying to find more affordable ways to get pastured meat into our family. The hardest part? Bacon. It’s just so expensive! But… I can’t give it up. So until Matt starts curing his own pork belly, my solution? Ends & pieces!
We had been using Trader Joe’s bits & pieces bacon, but it’s not pastured so we’re not doing that anymore. We were so thrilled to find pastured white-sugar-free bacon ends from US Wellness Meats! Having some leftover pumpkin from recently making pumpkin pucks (yes, sometimes we use canned – we’re human and pumpkins aren’t in season right now), I knew exactly what I wanted to make.
These pancakes aren’t ordinary. They’re packed with vitamins & minerals from the pumpkin and applesauce, plus the healthy fats from pastured bacon and gut-healing coconut. I’m not a huge fan of the taste of coconut flour, although I love how healthy it is, so I was super pleased when the flavor of these turned out swell. The boys gobbled them up, happily. Hopefully you like them too!
Pumpkin & Bacon Silver Dollar Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/2lb bacon ends & pieces (we used US Wellness Meats sugar-free pork ends)
- 1 1/2 C pumpkin puree
- 1/4 C applesauce
- 1/4 C almond butter or MaraNatha brand sunflower seed butter (if you’re nut-free)
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp coconut flour
Instructions
- Cook up your bacon ends and pieces. If you get one that’s very thick, slice it to be about the same thickness as the others.
We like to use a cast iron skillet over medium heat. This takes us about 7-8 minutes, flipping half way through. Remove from heat and drain your bacon fat into a storage container – whatever you do, DON’T throw away beautiful pastured bacon fat! - ♥ Let the bacon rest (this will allow it to crisp up) while you gather all of the remaining ingredients, except the coconut flour. Whip them together.
- ♥ Once the wet ingredients are well combined and a bit bubbly, turn the mixer on low and slowly sprinkle in the coconut flour until just combined.
- Finely dice rested bacon.
- Add 2 teaspoons of bacon fat to a pan over medium heat, and spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into the pan, then ♥ sprinkle with the diced bacon.
- Let cook for a few minutes on each side (3-5 min depending on the type of pan you use and how wet your pancakes are).
- Flip once the pancakes are stiff and brown on one side. If they’re still light brown or a bit floppy, wait another minute or two. This means that the moisture hasn’t yet cooked out of the pumpkin and applesauce.
- ♥ Make sure you reserve about 1/3 of the bacon to sprinkle on top of the served pancakes. We topped it with grade B maple syrup, but that’s not even necessary because they’re so tasty!
This is not a quick breakfast. The pancakes take quite a while to cook through, despite being so small. So, have patience and don’t start this project when the kids are already whining for breakfast! The good news is, you can gets lots of chores done or games played while you wait, since they don’t need to be “babysat” too much.
Makes enough pancakes to serve 6-8 (we had a few leftover, so rare!). With all the eggs & bacon in the pancakes, we served it with a coconut milk smoothie and the boys were satisfied for many hours.
