Pumpkin Waffles with Walnuts

For breakfast this morning, I was wanting to make something seasonal.  Katie and the boys were home downstairs.   Her husband, Bill, was on his way home from a camping trip with his buddies.  I thought about making pumpkin pancakes but then remembered some really sweet, sweet potato waffles that a friend, Kathleen, made once when her sister Claire and I were visiting in Westchester, PA.  Kathleen had baked sweet potatoes the night before, used whole wheat flour, and added chopped nuts to the waffle batter.  I wanted to do something similar, but I had no whole wheat flour on hand.  So, I broke open a box of pancake mix that I had in my lazy-Susan (Hungry Jack) and followed the waffle recipe but adapting it in a way that made sense, and it worked.

Here's the recipe:

2 cups pancake mix (Bisquick or any other is fine)
1 cup canned pumpkin (half a standard can)
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the above ingredients well in a mixing bowl. In a preheated waffle iron, drop about 1/4 cup batter per waffle onto the plates. Cook according to waffle-maker directions -- I closed up the top and when the green light came on (after a lot of steam escaped) I knew they were done. Katie had her oven set to "hold" which I guess is about 200 degrees F, and new waffles went into the oven as I continued to make more.

My easy batter, with a little help...

About 1/4 cup per waffle...

On hold, in the oven...

Breakfast was a platter of pumpkin waffles, walnuts on the side, warmed Vermont maple syrup, and a plate of sliced-up Honey Crisp apples that we picked yesterday at Hicks's Orchard in Granville.

Pumpkin waffles, yum!

Henry, fascinated by the waffle!

And Pete, who is a punkin!...

It was a great way to start a warm and beautiful October Sunday.


P.S.  Here's the photo collage of our day at Hicks Orchard, yesterday:

Our day picking apples ~ click to enlarge!