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Imagine it’s a drizzly fall morning, you slip into your cozy slippers and make your way to the kitchen to make a tasty hot breakfast. Desiring something comforting, you search for fall breakfast ideas on your phone. What better than fall pancakes! Not just any fall pancake, but the fluffiest pumpkin pecan pancakes made with sour cream and anise extract!

Top it off with rich maple syrup or your best pure honey, extra creamy whipped cream and crunchy chopped pecans. In this blog post, you will learn exactly how to make them and additional facts about the ingredients used. 

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Fall Pancake Recipe: Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes With Anise Extract

You may not have heard of anise extract before. If not, you are in for a treat!

What Is Anise Extract?

Anise extract comes from both the leaves and the seeds of the Chinese star anise plant.

Less of a plant and more like a tree, these mid-sized evergreens are native to Vietnam and China. These star anise trees bloom dark pink flowers. When the flowers fall, they leave behind the eight-horned fruit pod that when dried, looks just like a star.

It is from these fruits that people sun-dry and grind up the seeds to use in cooking and baking, or even use as pest control. 

The seeds have a strong aroma with a slightly sweet licorice flavor. In my opinion, this warm licorice flavor is great to use around the holidays.

Anise extract is definitely a flavor to infuse into your fall breakfast recipes!  If you are looking to switch things up and add the unique flavor of anise extract to your next hot breakfast, just use in place of vanilla extract.

I find that the flavor can be paired with the most unexpected ingredients, such as the pumpkin puree in this pumpkin pecan pancake recipe! 

Is Anise Extract Good For You?

Anise seeds have been proven to offer many health benefits.

Its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties help fight stomach ulcers and keep your blood sugar levels regular, which can also reduce both menopause and depression symptoms.

The star anise may also have some anti-diabetic properties. These plant compounds are beneficial in keeping your blood vessels healthy and helps with circulation. 

I love learning about different spices and their various benefits and properties. A great book to pick up if you are interested in expanding your culinary boundaries is The Science of Spice: Understand Flavor Connections and Revolutionize Your Cooking by Dr. Stuart Farrimond.

Not only does it include recipes to try, but it teaches you how to blend different spices together. 

But enough about just the anise extract! Let’s talk about these delicious pumpkin pecan pancakes! 

What to Add to Pancakes to Make Them Better.

There are many back-of-box type people out there. If you are one of them, more power to you!

But I am here to shake that box out of your hands and leave you feeling inspired.

What is a back-of-box person you ask? Well it’s not official terminology, but it is my own term for someone who sticks exactly to the recipe found on the back of a box or label.

Take your tried and true boxed pancake mix for example; you take it out of your pantry, flip it over and follow the instructions to a tee. It’s reliable and it’s predictable.

It is good, don’t get me wrong, but it could be even better if you tweak it! 

Same goes for pancakes made from scratch. You can tweak the normal ingredients for homemade pancakes and make them better by adding enriching ingredients like the following:

1. More Sugar:  By adding more sugar you are slowing the development of the gluten which will make your pancake softer and less rubbery. In this fall pancake recipe, I used a ½ cup of light brown sugar. That’s way more than your average pancake! 
2. Sour Cream: The more dense the cream, the thicker and fluffier the pancake. It also makes for a less dry and crumbly pancake.
3. Anise Extract: Like I mentioned before, try swapping vanilla extract for anise extract to create a new delicious flavor. You could also experiment with almond essence.
4. Pumpkin Puree: A traditional fall breakfast idea, this recipe includes Libby’s pumpkin puree. But you could also use homemade acorn squash puree, or homemade unsweetened applesauce.
5. Melted Butter: Substitute butter for the oil. Melted and cooled butter makes for a richer flavor and a moist pancake. 

For this pumpkin pecan pancake with anise extract recipe, I used all of the above ingredients along with multiple spices that blend together nicely for fall recipes such as: cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg flavor. 

What is the Secret to a Fluffy Pancake?

There are 3 key elements to making a fluffy pancake: higher heat, thicker batter, and don’t over-stir.

Now before you think, “okay great” and skip to the bottom, please don’t! Read the “why” for each element to learn forever and never look back at sad, floppy pancakes again! 

1. Higher Heat 

This doesn’t mean let’s crank up the dial to 450 degrees and burn the pancakes.

Higher heat simply means go just a touch beyond the average baking temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I like to keep it between 370-375 degrees. Higher heat also means, let your griddle heat up before putting your pancake mix on it.

Batter that hits a cooler cooking surface will release less gas and therefore create less air-pockets. When your pancake batter hits a fully heated cook surface, the baking powder reacts quickly and forms those needed bubbles to make a fluffy pancake.

So be patient, and let your griddle heat up first!  

2. Thicker Batter

This tip is important. Remember when I talked about substituting half of the measurement of milk with sour cream? By making the swap for a denser cream, it will result in a thicker batter.

You can certainly use greek yogurt instead of sour cream as well. 

In addition, you want to make sure you let your melted butter cool. If you melt the butter and add it to the mix right away it will thin out the batter and curdle the eggs. 

You also don’t want your batter to pour easily.

Forget those batter bowls with the pour spouts, as they will make you think that you need to pour your batter. As you will see in my instructions for this recipe, you want to ladle or spoon your batter gently onto the hot griddle. 

3. Don’t Over Stir

Only stir until the batter is combined and then stop. I promise it helps.

Making your batter before you heat up the griddle is another great tip, this way your batter has some time to sit before cooking.

Letting your batter sit a couple minutes helps both leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda) react with the liquids a bit longer before cooking. 

I really hope this post helps you cook the most flavorful and fluffy pumpkin pecan pancakes. If you are going to indulge in a sweet breakfast, go all in. Don’t settle for those boring floppy pancakes! 

I absolutely love sharing fall breakfast ideas. I hope you enjoy making these pumpkin pecan pancakes, and eating them too! 

Pumpkin Pecan Pancake Recipe

Pumpkin Pecan Pancake Ingredients 

• 1 15 oz can Libby’s Pumpkin Puree
• 1 Cup 1% Milk
• ⅓ Cup Sour Cream
• 2 Large Cage Free Eggs
• 2 Tbsp Melted Butter
• 1 Tsp Anise Extract
• 1 ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour (Or Gluten Free Baking Mix/Almond Flour Substitute) 
• ½ Cup Light Brown Sugar 
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• ⅛ Tsp Ground Cloves
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon (heaping)
• ½ Tsp Nutmeg
• ¼ Tsp Salt
• ½ Cup Chopped Pecans
• Sprinkle of Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice (Optional Topping)
• Extra Creamy Whipped Cream (Optional Topping)
• Maple Syrup (Optional Topping)
• Pure Honey (Optional Topping)
• Room-Temperature Water (As Needed)

Baking Instructions

1. Start by measuring out all of your ingredients. I like to do this so that everything is accounted for and you don’t forget anything. 
2. In a large glass mixing bowl place the 1 ¾ cup of flour (you can also use almond flour which I used for this recipe) and add in 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, ⅛ tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon (heaping), 1 tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp salt. Lightly mix and then add ½ cup brown sugar, mix again and set aside. 
3. In another large glass mixing bowl add a 15 oz can of Libby’s pumpkin puree. (I used canned organic pumpkin. But if you are wondering if you can use leftover pumpkin puree that you have made yourself, you can! You just want to make sure you are using real pumpkin puree and not the canned pumpkin pie filling). Next, add in ⅓ cup sour cream, 1 cup 1% milk, 2 tbsp melted and cooled salted butter, and 1 tsp anise extract. Mix together and then set aside. 
4. Back in your dry ingredient bowl, make a small hole in the middle and add in 2 room temperature large cage free eggs. Whisk the eggs together with a fork but do not mix all together with the dry ingredients. 
5. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients with whisked eggs mixture, and stir together with a large wooden spoon until combined. Do not over stir. 
6. If the batter still feels too thick, you can slowly add in room-temperature water and mix in until you get the correct consistency. It should still be thick and not easily pourable. (Tip: If you were to try to pour the batter it would take a while to flow out. This is the the consistency you want, but not too thick like cookie dough).  
7. Once you are happy with your batter, set your griddle to 370-375 degrees and let it heat up. Once your griddle is hot, ladle/spoon your batter gently onto the cooking surface. Cook on the first side until the edges start to look cooked through and the middle is bubbly, then flip very gently to cook the other side. 
8. Remove from the griddle and serve immediately with all the toppings: butter, maple syrup or your best pure honey, extra thick whipped cream, sprinkle of organic pumpkin pie spice, and some chopped pecans. 

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Pumpkin Pancakes Printable Recipe Card

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You Might Also Enjoy…

Please let me know if you enjoy these pumpkin pecan pancakes! Also, what kind of toppings do you like to add?

If you’re looking for more Fall inspired recipes, make sure to check these out next.

• Decadent Coconut Pecan German Chocolate Pie Recipe
• Healthy Roasted Butternut Squash With Goat Cheese
• Simple Salted Caramel Baked Apple Recipe

You can also visit my recipe archives here.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Make sure to subscribe to get my Grace Notes directly to your inbox and to access all my insider perks. You can also follow along daily on Instagram and weekly on YouTube!

~Sarah