Try these pumpkin pancakes this fall

If you’re going to eat pumpkin pancakes, this is your window to do it.

Of course, you could eat these flapjacks spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg anytime, but there’s no better time than these few weeks before Halloween when we start to gear up our palates for a whole season of festive eating.

Malika Ameen, whose new book “Sweet Sugar, Sultry Spice: Exotic Flavors to Wake Up Your Baking” (Roost Books, $30) comes out later this month, offers dozens of dishes that will entertain your tongue year-round. Her holiday offerings, like these pancakes, are particularly good.

As always, don’t overmix the pancake batter. Leave those small lumps — they’ll cook out of the pancakes on the hot griddle. Vietnamese cinnamon has a particular warmth that Ameen likes for these pancakes, but any cinnamon will do.

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground Vietnamese cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperature, divided

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup pure canned pumpkin

Heat oven to 250 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the buttermilk and the eggs, butter and vanilla. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until barely combined. In another medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and the remaining 1/4 cup of buttermilk. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the batter.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease the skillet and cook the pancakes in batches. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan per pancake. Cook until golden brown on the bottom and slightly dry looking and bubbly on the top, 2 to 3 minutes. Use a spatula to flip each pancake and cook on the second side until cooked through, about 1 minute. Transfer the pancakes from the skillet to a baking tray, cover with aluminum foil, and keep warm in the oven while you cook more. Serves 4.

— From “Sweet Sugar, Sultry Spice: Exotic Flavors to Wake Up Your Baking? by Malika Ameen (Roost Books, $30)