Pumpkin and Bacon Silver Dollar Pancakes

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

  1. 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!
  2. ♥ 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.
  3. ♥ 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.
  4. Finely dice rested bacon.
  5. 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.
  6. 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).
  7. 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.
  8. ♥ 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.

About Stacy

Stacy Toth has written 307 post in this blog.

Stacy is the matriarch of the Paleo Parents family. After beginning a paleo diet and founding PaleoParents.com in 2010, she lost 135 pounds and found health and happiness for the whole family. The following three years have been a progressive journey with a mission to educate people about nourishing their bodies by eating real foods. Stacy can be found on all forms of social media as @PaleoParents as well as the top-rated The Paleo View Podcast and her two cookbooks, Eat Like a Dinosaur and Beyond Bacon.

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  • http://beanathlete.wordpress.com/ Dennis Murray

    I’m onto my second pork belly of home cured bacon.

    I guess it’s not technically cured – or at least not in the same way as industrial bacon as I use conventional salt for several days and then hot smoke. Really easy and it’s turning out well so far.

    Pork belly, even from high quality animal welfare farms is still a cheap cut of meat – around $3 a pound.

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

      If you wanna cure us some bacon we’re happy to accept deliveries. In the meantime, we’ve got our hands full and cured meats and homemade yogurt will have to remain on our wish list for a while :)

  • Hollistergirl

    Is the bacon put into the pancakes? It is not clear from the instructions.

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

       No, it’s sprinkled on top in step 5 and as pictured in the bottom left photo :) You could fold it in, but I was afraid it would lose it’s crispiness!

  • http://twitter.com/neohomesteading cat morrow

    Yummmmm!!!! These look so good. I want them now :p 

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

      Then you ought to make them!

      • Cat @ NeoHomesteading.com

        I so would but I had a nasty dental surgery and can’t chew for a few weeks. Its torture but I keep coming back to look at your tasty food stuffs ;p

  • GiGiEatsCelebrities

    All the best parts of breakfast in ONE bite! :)

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

      Absolutely!

  • Tina B.

    We made these this morning….very yummy!  My oldest doesn’t like bacon *gasp* so I left off of hers. After the second bite she says, mom, these are missing something. I said “Duh….the BACON!” lol. So the next batch, I diced up some bananas and put on top. When flipped over, they lightly caramelized and she LOVED them. (she inherited my sweet tooth so this was perfect for her).  Thank you for giving us paleo options for old favorites!

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

      So glad you enjoyed them!

  • http://www.facebook.com/coco.ch.129 Coco Ch

    can these be made without eggs?

    • http://PaleoParents.com Stacy & Matt

      We’ve never made them without eggs, but I doubt it!